Morbid Curiosity
by DramaticalCat
Summary: chapter seven up:: Total AU. Slash. Read inside for this alternative world's settings - Xander, Faith, Tara, Gunn and William join forces against evil, school and - gasp - adolescence! Please just take a look.
1. The Welcoming of Xander

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Title: Morbid Curiosity

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Author: DC – devils_symphony@hotmail.com

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Disclaimer: None of the characters that feature as significant are mine. They belong to Joss, even if they are a little twisted by me. No one will be hurt and will be returned once I'm finished with 'em. Well, not too hurt.

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Pairings: This is undecided, but they'll be slashiness

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Summary: Fantasy AU-ness. Xander's the new kid on the block. He finds friends in a black leather clad girl named Faith and her little social group – Tara, who out "nices" everyone, Gunn, the cool street guy who goes by last name, and William, unwilling fashion victim to his eccentric clothes-making mother. After a traumatising event at his last school, L.A public, Xander came to embrace the solace that was Sunnydale. Screw solace, anyway. Xander finds himself in a world of vampires, slayers, stake wielding and morbidly cheery Principals. And oh yeah, that stupid thing called adolescence. With vampires, creepy librarians and bitchy cheerleaders to conquer, Xander has to wonder, how much therapy is really needed?

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Distribution: Whack it on your site like cheap porn, I don't care. Just mail me with your web address, and remember to give all the credit to me. Remember that I'm a narcissist, so flattery will get you everywhere.

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Reviews: Reviews make me feel tingly and happy. Nice comments make me bouncy and wanting to write more, and flames keep me warm, so bring in both!

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The Welcoming of Xander

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The sun was shining and the future was bright, and Xander Harris was drinking his first coffee. Okay, so it was a weakened cappuccino with a few truckloads of sugar added, but it still counted that it was coffee. And he was enjoying it. It was all very well and symbolic, as this was his first day at Sunnydale Highschool, tenth grade. It wasn't a big transition, L.A to Sunnydale, but it was enough that Xander had it rebuild friendships from scratch. Ten years of schooling when it came to friends were wasted – and now he had to build some sort of trust between other people as fast as possible. 'Is that possible?' he wondered as he paused outside of the building, finishing off his Starbucks. Perhaps, but he knew that it wouldn't happen today. Xander would have to wait and see, and possibly call his L.A friends when he got home.

Dumping the now empty paper cup into a trashcan, Xander started up the steps and into the Sunnydale Highschool building. It was friendly and familiar to those who had attended the school before, or large and daunting to those who hadn't. Xander settled to the thought that it was friendly and daunting, just to be positive and balanced. Now, what was he meant to do when he got here? Or yeah, Principal Flutie. As this thought passed through his head, he didn't bother to suppress a snort – Flutie? I wonder how many times he was beat up as a kid, thought Xander, as he looked around for a clue of how to get to the principal's office. He mostly ignored the milling crowd of students around him, some bumping him slightly, or skirting around him. 

"Lost?" Xander turned to see a girl of his age standing there, half-smiling at him. "You have a lost vibe. Need help?"

"Um, yeah," he said, and then smiled. "I'm not that transparent, am I?"

"Well, the wide-eyed looking around tells me otherwise," she said. Xander quickly took in her appearance, so that if she ever walked up to him again, he'd actually remember her. She hard dark brown hair, the chocolate coloured tresses hanging loose and cascading down her shoulder blades. Her equally brown eyes looked at his, amused, and Xander thought for a second that she was taking him in as well. She wore all black and her lips were coloured a dark red, and for a moment, Xander thought her to be a senior. But she looked too young, despite her rather mature attire. 

"I'm lost," he said, shrugging helplessly. "I've never seen the place before." It took him a short while to notice that they had started walking down the halls, going slower than the crushing mass of people around them. "I'm meant to be in the principal's office about five minutes ago."

"You I trouble?"

"Nah, but it's a kind of meet-and-greet 'welcome to the school I'm sure you'll make loads of friends' kind of appointment." 

The girl laughed lightly, adjusting her sling bag in search of a comfier position. "Well, Flutie's office is up those stairs, and two doors down from the Student Esquires office. I'll lead you there if you're real nice and tell me your name."

"Xander Harris," he replied, awkwardly putting out a hand.

"Faith Phillips," she said, taking his hand and shaking it firmly – too firmly. Xander gave her a bright smile instead of the wince he felt like pulling. "Well, welcome to our school and I'm sure you'll make loads of friends," she repeated, smirking.

"Bunches, even," Xander said, pulling his hand back as they started up the stairs. 

"What class you got first?"

"No clue. I was forced to bring all my things, hope for the best and wish that I don't get gym class today."

"Tenth grade, right?"

"Bingo."

"Well, most tenth graders don't do gym today, so you're in luck, Harris," Faith said, and she stopped outside a door reading 'Principal'. "Well, here we are."

Xander looked at the door blankly, and then returned the smile she gave him. "Here we are. Thanks for the twenty second tour of the entrance to the Principal."

"Be happy I didn't charge you," she said, starting further down the hall, backwards so she still faced him. She waved before turning. "See you around, Harris!" she called over her shoulder, and Xander waved 'goodbye' by way of reply. The day had started off rather well, Xander felt, as he knocked on the door in front of him. Now, if only everyone could be helpful.

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"Welcome to our school, Mr Harris," started off Flutie, jovial demeanour rather uninfectious and bouncy. Xander paused a little as he sat down, a half smile playing out on his features. "I'm sure you'll find Sunnydale High very accommodating. So!" The principal sat down, clasping his hands together and resting them on the desk. He smiled brightly. "Tell me in your own words why you changed for Los Angeles public to Sunnydale High!"

Xander blinked, and shifted a little. "Oh, sorry, I thought my dad already-"

"Oh, he did," said Flutie, waving his hand, dismissive. "I just want to hear it from the mouth of Alexander Harris. You know, the students perception of an event is so very different from their parents, I feel. So I like to give the youngsters a chance!"

"Um, okay," said Xander, slowly. More shifting uncomfortably. "But you see, my dad had a job offer here anyway, but the main thing was that...there was this..."

"Murder."

"Yeah, murder." He looked down at the floor. "It was a friend of mine, and no one kind of knows how she died, but...the school counsellor said that it would probably help that I go to a new school and start over, leave memories behind."

"Mm hm," said Flutie, looking sympathetic. "And they say you were the one that-"

"Yeah," said Xander, glancing up. "I found her." Flutie nodded gravely, before sighing.

"I am sorry for your loss, Mr. Harris, and it is not a great reason to start at a new school. I'm sure that it is a very hard thing you are going through. Which is why you will be meeting with our school counsellor tomorrow during your second class."

Xander looked up. "I'm fine, really, I already-"

Flutie put up a silencing hand. "No-no, I insist. Just a brief meeting, and if you wish to never go there ever again, that is entirely up to you. But otherwise, here is your new time table-" -a piece of white paper with a grid and text inside was handed over- "-and I hope that your time here at Sunnydale will be a happier one. So again, welcome to our school and I'm sure you'll make loads of friends!"

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With a map drawn on the back, Xander found it easy to get to his next class, which was Social Studies. Surprisingly enough, he wasn't late, despite the meeting with Flutie, which had gone better than Xander had expected. It was obvious that the reason he was here was going to be brought up, but the counsellor – that had been a little shock-worthy. Hadn't the man known that Xander had already been taking therapy and enough school counselling to last a lifetime? But one meeting shouldn't be too bad...he'd blab on about how he was doing fine, he'd already made friends here – even if he hadn't, if that's the case – and how life is going great for him. Lots of smiles and you're off the crazy label.

As he walked into the classroom, Xander was more than happy to see Faith was in his class. She smiled and waved, than shrugged apologetically when those who must have been her friends took all the seats near her. Xander waved it away and settled down on one of the two empty seats in the class, after exchanging greetings and smiles with the teacher. To the left of him was a window showing a courtyard with empty benches and vacant ground that he was pretty sure would fill up with people when break began. To his right was a girl with dark brown hair and brown eyes, like Faith, only with a slightly more tanned complexion, and with a much brighter ensemble of clothes. The kind of girl that when she smiles, everyone else smiles on command. The kind of girl who, when she waves her well-manicured hand, the football team would come running for her. The kind of girl who'll spend a hundred bucks on shoes and a handbag to match. The kind of girl who wouldn't ever even look at the likes of Xander Harris.

She now glanced disdainfully at Xander, raised a perfectly sculptured eyebrow at his mismatched attire and turned away to talk with friends. Xander, who had smiled hopefully when she had glanced at her, now felt the normal plummeting feeling he got whenever some such thing happened. Self consciously, he looked over what he was wearing. Baggy jeans, sneakers, a rather old looking green T-shirt and a Hawaiian unbuttoned shirt over it. It wasn't that bad – kind of like a clown had dressed him, sure, but not that bad. Or maybe it was. Xander sighed, and decided he didn't care. He glanced back at Faith, who was talking avidly with some other guy. Sighing wistfully, Xander turned back to the board, where the teacher was righting 'Environmental Impact: What We Do To The World'. 

"Now, if you'll open your books to page twenty-three, we'll get started." Xander froze. He didn't have a book. He looked around as everyone opened a blue book with a picture of the world on the front, and he pitifully took out a notebook and a pen. Suddenly, a well-manicured hand slapped down the assigned book in front of him. 

"Me and a friend will share, but you can borrow this," the girl next to him said, giving him an expression that said 'don't get your hopes up, little boy'. "Just give it back afterwards," she added, even as she turned away from him. Xander smiled a little as he opened the book. She may be a potentially fatal bitch, but at least he had a book. He opened it up, and on the inside of the cover, the words 'Cordelia Chase' were written, with a love heart above the 'i'. He rolled his eyes a little bit at the swirly, immature, girly writing, and then resigned to tedious Social Studies.

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Social Studies ended, and now it was Math – one boring subject after another. As Xander walked down the hall, checking his map so he didn't get lost, the girl he had sat next to in SS, Cordelia Chase, caught up with him. "Hey, we didn't really get a chance to say 'hi'," she said, giving him a bright smile, completely opposite to the disdainful looks she gave him in class. 

'Well, Xander, you're a very handsome man, why not?' he thought sarcastically. "Hi," he managed, slightly shocked at her change of tune. 

"I'm Cordelia Chase," she said, flirtatiously flicking a lock of brown hair out of her eyes. When Xander didn't react to her flirting, she frowned slightly, but continued. "You're name's Xander Harris, right? It's on your school bag."

"Um, yeah," he said, looking over his shoulder at his school bag, which did indeed have Xander HARRIS in big print in Vivid pen. He gave her a lopsided half-smile. "Don't worry, there isn't some guy out there, named Xander Harris, who's now minus a school bag."

Cordelia laughed, though you could tell she didn't fully find the joke that funny. "So, what do you do for fun?" she asked as they kept walking. "Football? There's some spots on the team that are vacant, and trust me, our school's like totally dying for some players."

"Oh, no, I'm not a sporty kinda guy," Xander said truthfully. "Dirt and tackling and helmets don't really do it for me. I mean, sure, there's the tackling, but padding? Not attractive."

Cordelia's eyebrows raised at his babbling, and the determined look in her eyes dulled when she must of realised that she was dealing with a guy who'd be classified as a 'loser' in her books. "Right," she said half-heartedly. She shook her head. "Anyway, just so you know, if you wanna get far in this school, stick with me. I'm a pro at separating the cool people from the losers." 

"I'll remember that."

---

Break, finally. Xander emerged from the confinements of the building, and went to sit on a bench that hadn't been taken over by hordes of chatting teens. He placed his bag down and started rummaging through it, taking out a chicken roll. Forsaking himself to the idea that he was going to eat alone, he unwrapped the roll from its plastic wrapping prison and bit into it...just as Faith and three other students he didn't recognise surrounded him.

Faith, who had perched on the bench next to him, slung an arm around his shoulder. "Yo, Xander," she said. "Lunching without me?" A black boy, the one Faith had been talking to at the start of Social Studies, sat down on the other side of Xander, as the other two, a guy and girl, contentedly sat down on the bench opposite.

"This isn't an attack, is it?" asked Xander, feigning worry.

"Nah, we just felt sorry for you, and decided to make you an ex-loner," said Faith. 

"Ah, gotta love pity," said Xander, smiling brightly.

"Indeed. As you know, I'm Faith," Faith said, and then pointed at the girl opposite her. "That's Tara McClay." Strawberry blonde hair twisted up in an alligator clip, a shy smile, and a peasant styled floral print top over worn jeans and sneakers. She waved, as shy as her smile, whilst taking out a jam sandwich of sorts. "She's the brainy one who we get all of our work off."

"My purpose in life," Tara offered, voice soft and quiet.

"That one's William Wyther," said Faith, gesturing to the boy next to Tara, who was twisted off the cap of a bottle of coke. Glasses, chestnut coloured hair, chiselled features and a timid smile. Xander blinked at what the boy, William, was wearing. It was something that would've looked good on someone maybe ten years older and had a lot of confidence, a nice car and a lot of money. A plain white T-shirt was covered by a fine cream coloured shirt that was almost see-through, and across the hem, collar and sleeves was a neatly printed pale green vine with small, blue flowers. He wore tight-fitting blue jeans that reminded Xander blazingly of all sixties movies, and plain white sneakers on his feet. It reminded Xander of that term, what was it? Metrosexual? "His mom's a fashion designer, if you're staring at the flowers," Faith said. William shrugged.

"It's a curse," he said, in a cultured English accent. He smirked gently. "I'm her victim and she won't allow me to walk out the door without one of her creations on me." Xander winced supportively and that earned a smile.

"And I'm Gunn," said the black guy next to him, holding out a hand. Xander took it. "Charles Gunn, but y'know, I'm one of those idiot street guys who have to go by their last names."

"He has issues," Faith stage whispered. 

"She's the one who started calling me Gunn," Gunn said, talking to Faith through Xander, who looked over at Faith for an answer.

"Gunn's a wicked cool name compared to Charles, right?" she asked Xander, who looked at Gunn, who shrugged.

"I guess, but don't go blaming me of issues, woman," he said with a smile. Xander looked him up and down as he had done the others – pretty much the normal 'street guy' apparel, the stuff that white guys wear to look cool but end up looking try-hard-ish and that black guys wear to look cool and end up looking cool as a consequence. 

"They're flirting, don't be scared," Tara assured, ignoring the pointed glares from both Faith and Gunn.

"Oh no, I picked it up," said Xander, looking innocent as he bit down on his roll.

"Aw man, don't go ganging up on us with them!" moaned Faith.

"Come to our side," said William to Xander, before blinking at Gunn's glare as innocently as possible. "What? I'm not allowed to recruit and you are, Charles?"

"Recruit?" asked Xander, looking at Tara. 

"We're at war with them," said Tara, "being the only sane ones in this group. It's not so much as an in-joke as it is a bad, on-going one. I try to stay out of it."

"Traitor," said William offhandedly.

"Metro," said Tara, and giggled as William's shoulders slumped in defeat. 

"I'm obviously in the middle of something politically complicated, I'll leave..." said Xander jokingly, standing up. But he was instantly pulled back down by Faith.

"Nah, you're in love with us already," said Faith unhelpfully. "You wanna stay with us."

"Yeah, nowhere else to go," said Xander truthfully, taking another bite out of his lunch.

"Hey, I saw Queen C give you the cold shoulder in SS," Gunn said. Xander smiled.

"Cordelia? Nah. She's the nicest Sunnydalian I've met so far," he said sardonically.

"No way, Tara out nices everyone," Gunn said, and Tara chuckled bashfully. Suddenly, Gunn looked up and his smile faded. "Yo, speak of the devil, heading this way." Tara looked behind her and then down, and William patiently shut his eyes, clasping his untouched drink. Faith rolled her eyes and went to look through her bag for her lunch, just as Cordelia stopped just behind William and Tara. Xander looked at her blankly, waiting for her to speak.

"I was going to offer you to have lunch with us," Cordelia said to Xander, indicating a couple of friends behind her, who smirked at him, "because I thought that you had a chance in hell of being cool. But you know what? You look cosy here. Freaks among freaks, losers among losers." William opened his eyes and looked at Xander, giving him a small half smile and a roll of his eyes, and Xander nodded subtly in agreement.

"Hey, you wanna back off, you and your minions are kinda blockin' my light," said Faith casually, amusement gone from her eyes and she looked up at Cordelia with cold indifference.

"Whatever, gothic-girl," said Cordelia with a roll of her eyes. A blonde behind her laughed as if it were the funniest thing in the world to call someone 'gothic-girl'. "You know that the eye shadow makes you look like slut, right?"

"Because your seat belt width skirts are so incredibly wholesome," murmured William before Faith could say anything. He glanced up at Cordelia, then back at the ground.

"Whatever," said Cordelia, the comment bouncing off her inflated ego. 

"Hey William," said the blonde who laughed before. "What happened to the pink? Or is blue flowers in fashion this season?" She and other sidekick laughed like twittering birds, high shrill and staccato. William shifted, glaring at the ground.

"Tell your mom that all of the clothes she makes you model, are a little too retro to be cool," Cordelia said, smiling triumphantly at the boy's uncomfortable stance. "A lot too retro, actually. It's no wonder she flunked in England, and trust me, she ain't gonna do any better over here." A blush burned in William's cheeks as he glared at the ground, looking furious but too meek to stand up to the overbearing bitch. 

"Hey!" snapped Tara, standing up angrily. "B-back off C-Cordelia!" she stammered.

"O-or w-what? You'll floral me to death?" asked Cordelia, gesturing to Tara's shirt. "Did William's mom make you wear that, 'cause-"

"Hey, you know what?" asked Xander loudly, standing up as Tara sunk back down, exchanging a glance with William. He spread his arms wide, looking at Cordelia as coldly as he could. "I'm good here, thanks for stopping by and being the concerned watch-student for the newbie. But hey, I'm fine. You can stop badmouthing everyone and sashay off with your little sidekicks there."

Cordelia tilted her head at Xander, ignoring the death glares she received from both Faith and Gunn. "You still have a chance to leave these losers behind," she said. "If you want to know the right people that'll actually pay off in later highschool years, come with us now. You're cute, your wardrobe's a disaster area but can be fixed-"

"Thanks for the compliment and offer, but I'm not interested," Xander said, his hands dropping to his sides. The two sidekicks sneered, and Cordelia placed her hands on her hips. "So run along now. I have a sneaky feeling you're not wanted here."

"He's right," said Faith, standing and crossing her arms. "Fuck off."

"You've made an enemy, Harris," Cordelia said, ignoring Faith. "Later, losers." She turned on her heel, walking away, minions filing out behind her. Xander and Faith sunk down into their seats.

"You have, y'know, made an enemy," said William, his blush faded.

"But you made friends of us, dude," said Gunn, putting a friendly arm over Xander's shoulder, who shrugged a little.

"She's a bit on the mean side," said Tara, shrugging helplessly and apologetically.

"A bit? Man, Gunn's right, this one out nices everyone," Faith said, sharing a smile with the meek blonde in front of her. 

"She's the loserish side of school, right? I'm in the right zone for the cheerleading and footballing?" asked Xander jokingly, looking around at everyone, who glanced at each other. 

"You're on the loserish side," said William, sipping is drink, "welcome."

"Not again," sighed Xander, and then smiled brightly. "Oh well, at least I'm in my element."

"That's the spirit," said Tara with fake peppiness, nodding resolutely, stammer gone.

"Queen C didn't trash you so much," said Xander, looking at Gunn, who shrugged.

"Well, I ain't a geek in her oh-so ignored opinion, and I'm not a goth either, or a fashion victim," said Gunn. "So she doesn't have much to go on except for the fact I hang out with them."

"Hey, who're you calling a geek?" asked Tara sarcastically.

"Or do you mean me? I get confused with such tags," said William, shaking his head.

"You're the goth, obviously," said Faith with as much sarcasm as Tara. 

"You tease me. I wish I could be gothic, just once, a bit of black," the Brit groaned. 

"Well, you know what they say, that the bullies are just insecure about themselves," said Xander, and all five snorted cynically. "Anyhoozit, I was wondering where the library is. I need to read up on Antarctica's environmental threats, of threats against Antarctica's environment, or something. Either way, I need books. Someone point me in the right direction."

"That's William's area. He's the only one here who gets books from there, because me and Gunn just leech off Tara, who doesn't need the books 'cause she already knows all the crap," said Faith unhelpfully.

"What a great, important life I lead," Tara said, giving a mild, playful glare to Faith.

"Did you want to go there after school?" asked William, ignoring Faith, looking at Xander after patting Tara supportively on the shoulder. "I need to return a few books and get more, I'm happy to lead you the way and show you the ropes, so to speak."

"That'd be a help," said Xander, nodding 'yes' at the offer.

"And hey, maybe, once Will lugs a new pile of books home and Xander reads up on the environment threatening thingy, maybe we all meet at the Bronze," said Gunn, ignoring William's pointed and defensive glare. 

"The Bronze?"

"It's the only place worth going to in this small-ass town," said Faith. 

"You'll like it," piped up William. "We may be a little underage, but there, we can pretend to at the right age and look longingly at the forbidden bar and its alcohol."

"It's a club, I gather?" asked Xander.

"It's a club," confirmed Tara. "It's at the bad side of town, two blocks away from the good side. Not a lot of town to share, really, but it is pretty hard-core for Sunnydale."

"Which ain't saying much, bet hell, we like it," said Faith. "So, Harris, you there?"

Four expectant eyes looked at him, two sets brown, and two sets blue. Xander shrugged and then smiled his normal happy-go-lucky smile. "I'm there."

---

The bell rang, loud and clear, and the English teacher floundered as the students started packing up instantaneously. "And remember your homework! Read one chapter and be prepared for the quiz tomorrow!" he said, even as students start filing out. Xander grinned, rather pleased with his first day of highschool. It had gone quite great, which was a surprise. He had made friends and enemies alike – always a good balance – and he had been dismissed of most homework, excepting Social Studies, as most reports had already been started before he had gotten there. Plus, he had something to do that night.

Outside, he and his new friends gathered. "So, we meet at the Bronze at what, seven?" asked Faith.

"Sounds fine to me," said Xander, and the other three nodded in return. 

"Okay, see you then, Xan, Will," said Faith, already heading towards the exit. Gunn waved and followed her out. Tara hugged both William and Xander in turn, before running after Gunn and Faith. Xander blinked, dazed at the girl's friendliness at such short notice.

"Library's this way," said William, and they started walking in the opposite direction. "What school did you come from?" 

"L.A public."

"Any good?"

"It was school," said Xander dryly, earning a small laugh from William.

"Allow me to rephrase: any good, as far as schools go?"

"It was okay. The cafeteria scared me, though most cafeterias scare me. Ooh, let me guess, is there a butch woman-male with a moustache as long as a pony's tail who serves up slop in a big spoon? Is her apron stained with gore, apparently food?"

William blinked and paused walking, and Xander looked at him expectantly. "Not entirely. We have heated benches and food in plastic containers." He smiled apologetically. "Did I smash your expectations, Xander?"

"No, just my stereotypes," Xander sighed as they resumed walking. "Pity, I wanted to ask her out on a date. Hey, you think there's a butch woman-male with a moustache cooking everything behind the scenes?"

"Possibly?" asked William. "We might. Our school's rather strange, so its all very possible."

"Strange?" asked Xander.

"Yes, well," sighed William. "A lot strange things happen that are…" He seemed to flounder for he right word. "Unexplainable, to most."

"Like what?" asked Xander, curiosity taking over his words.

"Just things," William said, shaking his head. "A lot of people just don't want to know." Before Xander could ask another question, William stopped out from two double doors. "I present, the library," he said, with a flourish concerning the pen he was holding and fidgeting with. "It has books and a librarian in a suit to go with. Enter if you dare."

"I'll take that dare," said Xander, with a lopsided smile, and William smirked with amusement as Xander mimed kicking open the doors before pushing them open the normal way. The two walked in, and William casually put his bag down on a table, and Xander did the same. 

"This way to the books you're interested in," he said, walking up stairs that led to the next level. Xander followed, just as someone's voice called out.

"Ah, William, I thought you'd be here." Both William and Xander turned to see a ratty looking man in a cheap, casual suit – if there was such a thing – with his nose stuck in a book. His voice was growly, tinted with a cockney accent. "You'll recall the incident with the invo-"

"Mr. Rayne!" said William suddenly. Xander glanced at him, confused at the note of panic in William's voice. The ratty man, presumably Mr. Rayne, looked up with a look of 'what now?' before catching sight of Xander. His eyes widened slightly, before settling into a normal expression. "This i-is Xander H-Harris," he stammered, earning another glance from Xander. 'What's he so jittery about?' he wondered. "I'm, um, showing him some reference books for Social Studies, if you don't mind…?"

"Indeed," said Mr. Rayne, walking forward to where Xander stood at the bottom step. "Ethan Rayne. Young Wyther here is a little too formal at times, and most other's just call me Ethan, despite Principal Flutie's protests." He extended a hand to shake and Xander took it a little reluctantly. There was something creepy about Ethan Rayne; something weathered into the wrinkles around his eyes that said 'evil' to Xander. There was something about Ethan that said that the man had seen a lot, and done a lot in return. Not everything he had done was nice, either. Xander withdrew quickly, shivering a little. He felt like he'd shaken hands with someone whose fingers had touched other's blood, whose hands had shaken hands with the Devil, the kind of hands that had snapped someone's neck- 

Now he was just freaking himself out. Xander gave Ethan a small, hesitant smile, taking a slightly shaken step back and almost knocking William over, who had descended the stairs a little. "You should get back to work," Ethan said, and then looked up at William. "You and I need to chat about that incident the other week. Bring Faith and the others as well."

"Yes sir," said William. Ethan nodded, gave a small smile to Xander and turned, heading towards the office; the book he had been reading closed under his arm. "Come on," the younger Brit said quietly, quickly ascending the stairs, Xander following.

"Well, on the Richter scale of freakiness I give that guy a 7, with a little shiver and shudder as a side dish," said Xander, shuddering to emphasise. William laughed nicely, disappearing behind the shelves of books, and Xander, again, followed. "Hm, you think I had enough metaphors in that sentence?"

"I know what happened at your school," William said, out of the blue. Xander's blood chilled, and he focused on William's finger, that was running along the spines of some colourful reference books. "That girl that was…stabbed in the neck? I read about it in the paper," he said, locking his eyes with Xander's. William took off his glasses, fidgeting with them a little. "I'm sorry to ask but…is that why you came here? To…get away from it?"

"Um," croaked Xander, and he coughed a little, "yeah, I guess. She was a friend."

William looked at the ground. "I'm sorry for bringing it up then. But I have to ask…do you know how she died? The real reason?" Xander gave him a hard stare, causing William to look away now and then, a slight red hue spreading across the teenager's cheeks. "I-I'm sorry, I shouldn't have-"

"There was no reason," said Xander hoarsely, good mood evaporating. "She was stabbed by some guy that had gotten into the girl's locker rooms. She died from blood loss. They said that the guy used scissors, because they would be available in a school, and the puncture wounds were identical and mirrored each other. Do I need to go on?"

"N-no, I'm sorry, I d-"

"What was your point, exactly?" snapped Xander, anger bubbling, He instantly regretted it when William jumped an inch. 

"That's the sort of strangeness that occurs here," the Brit said quietly, putting his glasses back on. "Deaths, unexplained, spontaneous. Weird diseases with odd side effects like deformation in the teeth and brow. You should see our graveyards. We're a small town, but we have more graveyards than convenience stores." He glanced at Xander. "Just so you know. I didn't want you to be shocked when you find out."

"I see I came to the right place then, therapy be damned," said Xander, anger completely gone now. His temper rose quickly, but it was usually short lived. He smiled a little, to indicate a peace. William laughed weakly, but returned the smile.

"Okay," he said, looking relieved that the subject had passed, "let's find you a book on Antarctica."

---

The Bronze wasn't hard to find. One only had to wander the streets of Sunnydale for a while, follow a few dressed up teens if you wanted, before you ran into it eventually. Though Xander had taken a taxi, so he hadn't needed to experience this, really. The drive had been short, and only seven bucks. Xander decided to walk, next time. He had dressed up in what he hoped wasn't a 'disaster area', as Cordelia had so adequately put it. Jeans, Doc Martins he had worn once before in his life, a plain blue button down shirt with thin, vertical white stripes oddly spaced out and a brown leather jacket, the jacket being the most expensive piece of clothing he had ever owned. It had been given to him by his mother, in a vain attempt to make him look older and classy. It never really worked, especially since Xander wouldn't come within an inch of the hair gel she had offered, leaving the tangled black curls unruly and unkempt. 

He opened the door to The Bronze, and smiled faintly at the surroundings. It was cool – there was no other way to put it. An upbeat rock band was playing music, and masses of teens and college students danced in groups and in pairs. There was a balcony which held seats and tables, and more seats and tables were also dotted on the bottom floor, as well as a few couches and armchairs. A bar ran along the side, offering coffee and soda for the underage Bronzers and alcohol for those fit to flash an I.D card.

Carefully, he weaved his way through the masses, smiling apologetically if he bumped into anyone. Finally, he saw a familiar face amongst the throngs. Tara sat at a table with a tall glass half filled with lemonade. She sucked absently at the straw, occasionally moving the slice of lemon around in it. She wore a dark green corset type top, which would have looked slutty if not for the long sleeved white blouse underneath, buttoned all the way to the top. Her hair was still swept up in a clip, and she wore the same jeans and sneakers she had at school.

"Hi Tara," Xander said in greeting, sliding onto the chair opposite her. She blinked in surprise and smiled, extracting the straw from her mouth.

"Hey, you made it," she said. She kept her tone gentle and quiet, but she seemed to pitch it loud enough to be heard over the music and conversation.

"So I have. Are you waiting for someone I don't know?" asked Xander. "I can move."

"Oh no," she said, shaking her head, "unless you want to leave, I don't mind."

"Why would I?" asked Xander, smiling, and hoping it looked nice and gentlemanly. It seemed to work, as Tara giggled a little bashfully, sipping at her drink. "Has Faith and Co. arrived yet?" Tara shook her head, pushing her drink away.

"No, but I think we're early."

"Fashionably?"

"Rightly so." They shared a companionable grin.

"So therefore they'll be fashionably late."

"But we'll still be fashionably early."

"Or not."

"Hm. Dorkily early?"

"Sounds about right."

"Hey!" said a loud voice, and Tara and Xander looked up to see Faith settled in the seat between them, holding a beer bottle. She hadn't bothered to change her clothes since school that day.

"So, you charmed the bartender into giving you illegal alcohol sans I.D card or are you secretly eighteen?" asked Xander, tilting his head at her.

"Neither," said Faith, taking a swig as if she had been drinking beer all her life. "Got some college dude to buy it for me, pussy just needed a little dance and some light conversation and I had him buying me said illegal alcohol." 

"As goes the normal Bronzing routine," added Tara, rolling her eyes a little, a small smile playing out across her features. Xander laughed a little nervously as Faith winked at him, and he looked around desperately for some male life. Almost as if on cue, Gunn and William arrived, after stealing a chair so all five could gather around the table. Both wore what they had been wearing at school, except William seemed to have managed to smuggle out a denim jacket to cover the subtle but noticeable floral design his mother had bestowed upon him.

"Faith, every time. You do know it is against the law for a minor to drink beer?" asked William wearily when he spotted the beer bottle in question. Faith grinned, sculled it and slammed it down. Gunn laughed and William shifted uneasily.

"So you gonna arrest me, English?" she asked cattily, slouching into her seat.

"No, but if you keep going on own path of destruction, you will be one day," William said as seriously as possible. 

"Hey, I didn't choose that path," said Faith, with a poisonous glare.

"Let it go Will," said Tara, and that would have been the end of the conversation. But it seemed that the argument would go on for as long as William knew Faith and vice versa. Faith stood, shaking out her hair a little before walking around Xander, and placing a hand on William's shoulder. 

"You gotta cut loose a little bit, Ivy," she said, and William rolled his eyes a little at the nickname. "Come on, I'm bored as hell. Dance with me." Sighing as if he was being subjected to a dreary, boring activity, William stood, if a little reluctantly, shooting a half smile towards Faith.

"You annoy me."

"Yeah, but you ain't gonna turn down a lady, right? You're too polite, or something." William, even as he glared at her, walked out onto the dance floor. He said something and she laughed loudly, but the loudness that was the Bronze drowned out his words. Xander looked at Tara.

"That was strange."

"Yeah, but it's normal for Will and Faith," said Tara, waving it away. "Besides, I think Faith has a crush on William, and she just enjoys winding him up."

"No way Tar," said Gunn, shaking his head, "William has it in for the girl. He starts arguments with her all the time, and she just strings him along. But hell, whatever. He likes the ride, so let him enjoy it while he can. Faith will get bored."

"Gunn, that's horrible," said Tara, scolding. "They're friends and Faith would never-"

"None of us no what the hell Faith's capable of," Gunn said, not as if in argument, but as if he was stating a fact. "I don't think she even knows." Xander shifted uncomfortably. He felt like he was in way over his head, as if he was trying to keep up with the world politics and not just the politics in a social group. "Hey, Xan, man, sorry 'bout all this. Tension's a little high, y'know. There was this thing that happened last week, but don't worry, it'll blow over."

"We're usually a lot nicer to each other," Tara agreed, half-smiling.

"I hope so, I don't want to, I dunno, get in the middle of a fight, make things worse."

"Nah man, chill, it's not like that. Hey, look," Gunn assured, and then pointed towards we're William and Faith were dancing, both smiling and chatting, Faith's arms flung around the boy's neck, his hands resting lightly and politely on her waist, distancing himself. "They're cool with each other, and we're all great friends. It's not like World War Three or anything."

"We've been through a lot," added Tara, "but we're not closed off from having new friends, or whatever. So I hope you don't feel that way."

"It's fine," said Xander truthfully, and Tara smiled supportively, a slight bit of worry reflecting in her greenish blue eyes. "But I am thirsty, so if you'll excuse me…" He stood. "I'll be back, and next time, I won't quote Terminator." Tara laughed lightly and Gunn smiled. Xander started towards the bar, and when he glanced back the two were dancing with each other near where William and Faith were. Despite what Tara had said, Xander felt like he was intruding. But he had to take the group's friendliness at face value. Analysing them would lead to frustration and probably a lot of headaches. 

He got to the bar and ordered a Coke, sitting down to drink it there. "Take solace in the fact that you actually met people," he murmured, and, with this thought in mind, he seemed to cheer up a little a she passed over the dollar notes. As he sipped at his drink, Xander saw, out the corner of his eye, a couple heading towards a door, which, Xander assumed, was a back exit. He didn't take too much notice until he saw the girl struggle against the vice-like grip the guy had on her wrist. The door was kicked open, and with a shout of protest, the girl was pushed out, the guy following and 'fwap', the door was closed.

"Oh Xander, man, don't even," Xander muttered to himself, defiantly turning away, sipping at his coke. He sighed. "This kind of hero complex gets me into too much trouble," he sighed, ignoring a stare he got from a neighbouring Coke drinker at his talking to himself. Looking around to see if anyone was looking at him, Xander opened the door slowly, peering out into a dimly lit alley way, road lights sparing only a little bit of illumination. Glancing back into the Bronze, Xander caught Faith's stare from where she danced on the dance floor. Ignoring her, Xander stepped out, closing the door with a faint 'click'. He was debating whether to just forget it or not, when a muffled scream reached his ears.

"Man, this is what happened when I found her," sighed Xander, taking a tentative step forward. 'Yeah, and look at where she is now – dead, you moron,' said a little voice in his head. 'You still feel guilty over her death? Fine. Redeem yourself and fucking do the right thing, you idiot.' Xander broke out into a run towards the corners of the alley, where the screams had come from. As his eyes adjusted, he slowed to a walk, to see the struggling figure of the girl pressed up against the wall, a hand over her mouth. The guy pinned her there, his head bent over her neck, and she whimpered.

"Hey, let her go!" yelled Xander, his voice hitched with fright. Looking around, he picked up a discarded and empty beer bottle. When the man didn't turn, Xander hurled the glass object at him, and he winced as it shattered over the stranger's back. The guy turned and... he snarled? His brow was hideously deformed, and he had fangs too big for his mouth. His chin was smeared with blood. "What the…" whispered Xander, backing away. The monster let the girl drop, and she went into a quivering crouch, crying softly in pain and fear. Suddenly, the monster seemed all too real, too familiar. 

"Boy, I'd let you run, but you pissed me off," growled the monster, the demon, the vampire... "So, here's your choices. I snap you're neck, or drink you dry. What's it gonna be?"

"Or you crumble into a big pile of dust, how's that one?" Xander looked over his shoulder at Faith, who now stood beside Xander. In her hand, she held up a pointed piece of wood as if it were a dagger. Xander couldn't see how such a thing could work against this evil thing before him. More footsteps and Xander was dragged back.

"You okay, sweetie?" asked someone, Tara.

"Will, man, you got the water?"

"Tara, is he hurt? Yes, Gunn, let Tara have it."

"I'm fine," Xander said vacantly. Gunn stepped in front of him, wielding a similar piece of wood. 

"So you and your teen friends gonna stop me?" asked the monster, and he laughed as if it were the funniest thing.

"Well, yeah, we've done it before," Faith said, stepping forwards. "Hey, you know who the Slayer is, vampire?" So it was a vampire. Xander shuddered, and he felt Tara place a soothing hand on the back of his neck, her other arm tangled with his when she had pulled him back.

"The Slayer?" asked the vampire. His cockiness seemed to diminish. "Yeah."

"Great. You know who I am?"

"The...Slayer?"

"Bingo. Gunn, what we got for our winner?"

"A stake in the heart."

"Sounds great." Suddenly, with a growl, the vampire lunged forward, hands outstretched for Faith's neck. The dark haired girl jumped nimbly aside, grabbed the back of the vampire's leather jacket and hurled him into the wall. Xander jumped an inch, almost knocking over Tara and William, who both put out a friendly hand to support him. Gunn leaped forward, stake in hand and ready to stab into the vampire's chest, when he was kicked away, landing on Faith. Both collapsed with two differently pitched grunts. The vampire hissed at them, before storming over towards where Xander, Tara and William stood, teeth bared. William quickly jumped in front, wielding his own stake, and was, equally as quick, knocked off his feet in a stinging punch to the jaw. Tara stepped forward, holding a glass vial of water. She uncapped it deftly and splashed it on the vampire's face. He was instantly hissing, a hand clapped over his eyes as he howled in pain. Steam rose, as if Tara had thrown burning acid.

"William!" she cried, quickly helping the boy up, who held a hand to his jaw.

"I'm fine, I'm fine," he muttered, glaring bloody murder at the vampire. Faith, now on her feet, stepped forward and plunged the stake into the distracted vampire's heart through his back. Xander gaped a sit exploded into a cloud of dust. Gunn stood shakily, pocketing the stake and rubbing his stomach where the vampire had kicked him. Faith swept a few locks of dark hair out of her eyes, and smiled at Xander. 

"Welcome to the Hellmouth, I'm sure you'll make loads of friends!"

~~~~

Woo, I had fun writing that! So, what do you think? Hate it, love it? Do you want the slashy side of this story to make its presence known? What do you want to happen? Who do you want to get with whom? I already have ideas mapped out, but I'd love to hear your comments and suggestions.

And hey, this is un-beta'd, so there may be one million mistakes I didn't pick out. Do I have a volunteer beta? Do I need a beta? Come on, read and review! The next chapter should be up shortly, by the way. So, yeah. :) 


	2. Startled Awake and Forced Asleep

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Title: Morbid Curiosity

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Author: DC – devils_symphony@hotmail.com

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Disclaimer: If I had created 'Buffy', I wouldn't be here. Don't own, don't sue. 'Cept the plot. No one can claim that but me.

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Author's Notes: Yo. Here's chapter two, new, improved and beta'd (thanks Rogue!). Have fun.

---

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Startled Awake and Forced Asleep

---

By the time Xander and the rest and trooped back into the Bronze, the band had changed. Slow, alternative music was filling the club, and the masses danced slowly as one. Sweet, soft electrical guitar played next to an equally sweet violin, filling the song with melancholy as the singer, clad in black denim, crooned into the microphone. Xander, visibly shaking, sat down at a vacant table, as the one they had been sitting at was taken over. The group sat down, and, with one chair missing, Gunn stood behind Faith, a hand on her shoulder, which she ignored as she looked at Xander for his reaction. William stared at the centre of the table, while Tara rested her clasped hands on the table, looking sympathetic.

"What…" started Xander, but his voice came out wrong. He shook his head. "What was that? What happened out there?"

"Pretty much standard vamp attack," Gunn said quietly, exchanging a glance with Faith.

"Vamp."

"Vampire," confirmed Faith, her voice as quiet as Gunn's, a tone Xander had never heard her take – it sounded sorrowful, regretful, as if she hadn't wanted that to happen at all. "It's kind of a Sunnydale gimmick. They're pretty plentiful here."

"As I said in the library, the graveyards, the oddities this place has to offer," William said, looking up. "Vampires, demons, witches, werewolves…they're all too true."

"We try and fight them," said Tara, she and William exchanging a glance. This reminded Xander of concerned parents. "Try. It's hard, y'know, but we try. We can't not do this, though. Too many vampires out there. If we didn't fight back, we…we'd be overrun."

"Supposing this is real…you're just kids. Like me. Just kids. Why don't you let the police or adults sort this out?" asked Xander, his hands held up in question. He leant back in his chair, looking from grave face to grave face.

"Well, first off, what are we gonna tell the cops?" asked Gunn with a shrug. "'Yo, we got vamps,' won't cut it. Adults, people who ain't us, don't believe in this crap. And even if they did, they wouldn't understand. What do the cops do? They shoot if they have to, but bullets won't kill a vampire, or most other of the evil creatures out there."

"None of them are prepared to understand," added Tara.

"And besides, we're not just kids," said Faith, leaning forward and crossing her arms on the table, looking at Xander evenly. "Gunn lives and breathes fighting vamps, it's how he was raised. Will digs this supernatural stuff, he's handy with a stake as well as a reference book. Tara…she's one of the white witches out there."

"I do small spells, like, defense magicks and stuff, it's nothing big," the strawberry blonde reassured. "I'm not that great a witch, I've just started learning."

"And what do you do? What's your gimmick?" asked Xander, meeting Faith's even stare.

Xander was met with a smirk. "Well, I'm the Slayer," she said, leaning back into her chair now and interlocking her fingers behind her head in a relaxed posture. Xander arched an eyebrow in question. "One girl in all the world with the strength to defeat the forces of evil and whatever."

"Faith's gifted with supernatural speed, strength and senses," William explained, faltering a little under Xander's hard, disbelieving stare. "The Slayer is a girl Chosen out of each generation to fight the forces of darkness. When Faith dies," he flickered an apologetic glance towards Faith, who shrugged, "another girl will be Chosen to take the burden. Faith is humanity's only defense against the demons." He gave Xander a slightly wry half-smile. "With the exception of us, of course."

"We don't expect you to believe this right away," Tara said, leaning over and placing a motherly hand on Xander's. "We didn't, at first. But when faced with evidence like what you witnessed just now, it got hard not to believe."

"No, it very easy to not believe," said Xander. He pulled his hand away and stood up. "That guy out there, I don't know, but he wasn't a vampire. They don't exist. Neither do witches, or werewolves, or demons. I mean come on, this is a place named Sunnydale-"

"It's also the Hellmouth."

Xander paused, looking at Faith, who had stood as well. "What?"

"The Hellmouth, the Mouth of Hell, do I have to spell it out?" she snapped.

"Faith-" started William.

"No, shut up Will, I'm not done!" William's jaw clenched, but he didn't continue his sentence. "We live on the Hellmouth, Harris. I have to stop it from swallowing this place up, okay? Because it's an entrance to the big ol' fiery hole, that means all of the creepy shit is attracted. You think that guy out there was bad? Try fighting a werewolf. Try killing a fully armored demon. Try and stop a pending apocalypse. This is all real, Xander, and you can leave now if you don't want to accept it. But don't think I didn't see a spark of recognition when you saw ugly-face out there. I think you know what really happened to that girl at your school." 

Xander's blood froze, and he glared accusingly at William. "That's what you were implying, wasn't it? That my best friend was killed and drained by some blood-sucking fictional character?" William didn't meet his stare. "I don't believe this," said Xander darkly. "I don't believe any of this." With that, he turned on his heel and strode through the Bronze, weaving his way through the hordes of teens and college students, determined not to look back. He banged his way out the door and into the chilly night. The door closed behind him, and he started at a run, pulling his jacket around him- 

-and there was a shriek as he plowed into someone, both he and the figure crashing down. "Oh – my – god! I twisted my ankle!" said a shrilly voice. Xander opened his eyes to see he was lying on top of none other than Cordelia Chase. "Get off me you pervert!" she yelled, and he quickly scrambled off her. She used him as leverage to get to her feet and she dusted herself off furiously. "God, what the hell is your problem!" she snapped, and then she stopped when she recognised him. "Xander Harris?" she sneered, running a hand through her long brown hair, chocolate eyes blazing. "Oh – my – god!" she said again. "You're a freak and a pervert!" She turned her back on him and banged her way through the door viscously, almost killing a guy who was coming out. Xander gritted his teeth and turned, sighing defeatedly.

A good day, ending with a bad night. Could it get any worse?

---

_"Hey!" Xander called outside of the girl's locker room. Friend forever and for life, was taking her time in there. "We're gonna be late!" It wasn't like he was eagerly anticipating the math detention that awaited both of them, but his best friend was going to make it worse for both of them if she was any longer. Glancing around and hoping that he wouldn't be accused as a peeping tom, Xander reluctantly entered the locker room. _

It was quiet and empty and not at all like the visuals he liked to imagine that a girl's locker room would be like. Yup, the place was devoid of blonde and brunette girl's wandering around in itty bitty towels, laughing and pulling at said towels until one may slip… Nah, it was lots like the guy's locker room, and it was empty.

"Yo, c'mon, math ain't bad enough if we piss off Ms. Green!" Xander complained, still walking amongst the lockers. A few stickers made one of the lockers different from the rest – it read 'L.A Cheerleaders Kick Ass!' Xander would never have dreamed befriending the head cheerleader, but he figured he was cheating by befriending her before she became a cheerleader. Since they were in preschool. "You're hiding, aren't you?" he asked cheerfully, pausing before turning down yet another small corridor of lockers, bypassing showers. 

_Suddenly, the silence seemed all too much, deafening. His own footsteps spoke warnings, the warmth in the air clinging and uncomfortable. A sense of dread over took his otherwise jovial mood, and it wasn't just because of math detention. He rounded the corner slowly, and his blood chilled when he saw an arm lying on the ground, the rest of the body obscured from his vision as he stopped rounding the corner. The arm that he could see didn't move, and he shivered at the pale quality it had taken._

"B-Buffy?"

Xander woke up with a start, shaking violently, cold sweat making his forehead shiny and his hair damp. Breathing hard, he lay back down in bed, pulling the covers around him and squeezing his eyes shut. His eyelashes were damp from suppressed tears and they only begun to dry as he drifted into a thankfully dreamless sleep. 

---

The next morning, Xander wasn't in the most positive frame of mind as he walked down the halls of Sunnydale High. Now that he had pretty much secluded himself from both Faith's group and Cordelia's group, he felt so very alone. The dream involving Buffy was far from comforting and not a good way to end off an already bad night. He felt like he was going insane.

And now he was meant to face the school counselor in two periods of class.

He sighed and bent down to get a drink form the fountain, when he heard a familiar and irritating voice come floating down the halls. "And then he just leaped at me! I fell and he lay on me and I had hurt my ankle, and then he tried to feel me up! He's a freak, no question, but come on, only a real sick creep would do that, am I right?"

Xander's blood froze, not for the first time in the past couple of days. Great, he could almost feel the rumors spreading. He stood, turning off the drinking fountain tap and turning to see Cordelia, her minions, and a few guys with football jackets on walking over to where he was. "Oh, that's him," Cordelia said, as if Xander were an exhibit at a museum. "I told you, he looks and dresses like a freak to, as well as act like one." They passed him in a cloud of giggles, flirtations and perfume mingled with cologne. Trying not to let this new information get him down, Xander turned and almost ran into William. 

"Woah!" Xander cried, backing up a step. "Hey Houdini, new trick? Appear out of nowhere and frighten the bejesus out of any poor soul?"

William laughed softly, but it was covered with a healthy dose of concern. "Sorry about last night," he said, fiddling with the tartan hem of yet another Mrs. Wyther creation, which did noth to compliment the cream coloured silk, the cherry red cuffs and the seventies-wide lapels of the same colour. "It must be…"

"Listen, it's hard to know, I mean, vampires?" said Xander. "Tara was right, it's hard not to believe when you just saw some guy with big ugly fangs bite a girl and then turn into ashes when killed. But it's not a great ride to the path of believing, y'know? It's…not easy to accept."

"I know," said William, "at first I was reluctant to believe. Gunn already knew, and Faith had her super strength to convince her, and Tara already knew about magicks…but it took me a while. And then one night…" He trailed off, and then, hesitantly, he pulled back his shirt a little, to expose more skin on his neck. Just at the base of it, was faint scarring, and Xander shivered. It looked uncannily similar to the wounds on his friend's neck, only less. "Faith saved me, by a fraction, and since that, I was all for the believing, and more importantly, the killing of vampires. I was interested in occultism anyway, as Faith mentioned last night. Being bitten was a wake up call." He readjusted his shirt, and then looked at Xander meaningfully. "I'm sorry to bring this up again, but I doubt your friend was stabbed in the neck with scissors. The pictures in the paper…they look too similar to things I've seen far to often in my life."

"I'm starting to believe," said Xander, glancing at the floor when William's eyes lit up with relief at progress. "But…I think I just need to be alone." It hadn't been what he had originally wanted; he wanted to just be accepted by people but… He was starting to see possibilities of true evil, and it scared him, especially to think that his friend had been a victim of the said evil. 

William nodded in understanding, and turned. "Wait, Will," said Xander, and William turned. "My friend…she was bitten, I think. I saw her tombstone. It said her name – Buffy Summers, her age – my age, her virtues – too many to fit on it. She was my best friend in the entire world. It kills me to think that whatever that the man last night was, was the same thing that got her. And it makes me angry and I realize that I'm starting to believe." William's expression didn't change, but he tilted his head, listening intently. "If there is truth in this, and evil, then I'll believe. Just let me think on it. I'll…see you some time."

"See you later, then."

---

Computing had been fun, surprisingly enough. Xander had never been one for the world of technology, but it had been fun to be paired up with Tara, the only familiar face in that class. She, like Will, had said her many apologies about the other night, but Xander had waved it away, and the two had spent the period clicking on the mouse, tapping on the keyboard and generally carrying out enjoyable small talk, about hobbies, likes and dislikes, bitching about Cordelia Chase. Just things in general. When the bell went, they exited the class together.

"Math next, big yay," Tara said sarcastically.

"Big yay, because I'm not going," Xander said. Before Tara could say the inevitable 'why?' Xander continued. "Flutie's making me see the school counselor for a once-off session. Do you know where his or her's office is?"

"Oh, yeah, it's on this hall, actually," said Tara, looking a little concerned. "Just two doors down there. Her name's Ms. Calendar. Why do you…" She glanced at the floor bashfully. "Sorry, that isn't my business. See you at break, then?" Xander nodded, received a hug from the strawberry blonde – she even smelled like strawberries – before heading in the opposite direction, towards Ms. Calendar's office. Xander sighed, submitting to yet another counselling session, before knocking on the door. 'Here we go, another day, another counselor. She'll probably ask me about my hobbies, or future goals, or something. Best not to mention the dream last night or she'll think I'm actually here for a reason other than Fl-'

"Come in!" called the predictably female voice. Xander twisted the door handled, opened the door and stepped inside. She stood from behind her desk, smiling in greeting, her feminine-styled suit the colour of charcoal, her hair a few shades darker. Her lips were coloured a modest, almost earthy shade of red, matching her moderately long nails perfectly. This was something Xander hadn't counted for – Ms. Calendar was _hot._ It almost wasn't fair – Xander knew that he wasn't supposed to think a member of school faculty as hot. It was not the natural order of things. He closed the door behind with an orderly click, and he pressed his back up against his, mouth agape.

"Hello, Xander, I presume?" she asked. She spoke in a businesswoman fashion, even as she smiled softly. She extended a hand. "Please, sit down. I'm Ms. Calendar."

"Hello," Xander managed, stepping forward to take her hand. Soft, youthful, as if Ms. Calendar wasn't over twenty. And she is, thought Xander, so stop it, close your mouth and sit the hell down! He obeyed the voice of reason in his head and sat, jaw snapping shut. She was a school counselor, just like any other he had encountered. But this one was… Xander mentally slapped himself. Stop taking notice of her deep, penetrating eyes, or her silky smooth dark hair, or her very youthful looking curves, or her smooth tanned skin, or- 'Oh for crying out loud.'

"So, Xander," she started, closing a cream coloured file and shifting it aside. She smiled and clasped her hands together. "This is your second day at Sunnydale High. How goes everything so far?"

Ah, this was familiar. The chatty small talk, as if she really cared and wasn't counting down the days, hours, minutes until her next paycheck would arrive. She'd start asking him about his future goals, or something. "Fine." Wow, that was so damn convincing. Memo: don't pick drama for next terms options.

"Fitting in okay?"

Yeah, it's great. I found out that vampires exist, I met a 'Slayer', a witch and two other vampire hunters, I saw a vampire die the other day and I've only just recently found out that I have a thing for older women. I'm fitting in great and it's all peachy. How are you today? "I think so. Made a few friends."

"That's great," she said, with a certain sincerity that made Xander believe that she actually cared. "Now, I was just reading up on a little report. This girl at your old school, Buffy Summers. I am so sorry by the way," she added meaningfully, reaching over to clasp his hand sympathetically. If it weren't for the twang of pain he felt for his deceased best friend, Xander would have keeled over from the contact. Ms. Calendar withdrew her hand – 'NOOOO!' – and continued. "It says he that you found her. Xander, this is going to sound a little weird, but do you ever dream about that day or things related to that day?"

Xander glanced away, shifting nervously. "Once, the day after. But you know, I've gone through therapy and come out the other side sane and kicking-"

"Hm, yes, I understand that," said Calendar. "Let's forget that conversation." She waved a hand, dismissing said conversation, and Xander gave a small half-smile in return. "Now, let's talk about your future goals, shall we?"

---

Xander emerged from Ms. Calendar's office, just as the bell rang, signaling break. The chatty small talk had gone on predictably. Xander had ratted off about his goals that involved some things he figured she'd want to hear, like achieving well in school. Then more predictable questions had followed: what hobbies do you enjoy? How's home life? What's your favourite subject? (Followed by, as usual, a small laugh and a 'oh yeah, I always loved that subject too!') And then, there was at the end, the token statement of: 'Well Xander, if you need anything – _anything _– just drop in, I'm here for you. Remember, there's nothing to big or to small that can't be talked out with an adult you can trust.' 

All the while Xander had been sneaking glances at the little 'V' of skin just under he neck. Xander wasn't exactly one to really ogle at anyone, but Ms. Calendar just radiated sexuality, for some reason. It made Xander want to sit down in baggy pants for a while and thing of boring, cold things, so that no one could accuse him of truth behind Cordelia's statements. Xander hardly _ever_ checked out girls, let alone older women, and it was then that he felt adolescence had truly hit home – again. For the umpteenth time. Suddenly feeling very hungry, Xander started towards the cafeteria. He had been slightly late getting out of bed, and had avoided lateness by not fixing a lunch and just grabbing five bucks.

"Yo, Xander." Xander paused to let Gunn catch up with him. Predictably, the boy wore something similar to yesterday – five layers of clothing that made him seem buff and intimidating rather than fat, including a dark green hooded jacket, the hood hanging limply under his backpack. "You weren't in math, and Tara was all 'it's not my place to tell you' so it's now my place to ask you, where were you?"

"Counselor, Ms. Calendar," said Xander. Gunn gave him a wide grin.

"Man, she's hot for school staff, eh?" he asked, and Xander's shoulder slumped with relief.

"So very glad I'm not the only one."

"Nah man, she's got half the school hot for her. So what'd she have to say?"

"It was just a 'get to know you' thing. No big."

"Yeah." There was a pause as they walked towards the cafeteria. "Hey, just wanted to say that I don't blame you for running out of the Bronze last night. It must have been kinda trippy to see your first vampire and all."

"Very trippy with a side of stumble. But I think I'll cope." Xander glanced at Gunn. "Do you think I'm still on speaking terms with Faith?"

"Yeah. She gets hell mad in the short term, but it burns out pretty damn quick." Gunn opened the cafeteria doors and both walked inside, getting routinely bustled but the bustling crowd of bustles. They quickly conformed to the fast paced crowds and got into line, picking up trays as they stood patiently behind the long line of students.

"In L.A we had a butch man-woman thing serving 'Tuesday Surprise' in a big spoon," Xander said conversationally. "But this seems better. Having nice neat little packages on the warm benches thingies."

"Heat chutes."

"Say whatta?"

"We call 'em 'heat chutes' for lack of a better name," Gunn explained, grabbing a lukewarm pasta and white sauce in a decent sized disposable plastic lunch box. Xander took one that contained a burger wrapped up in cooking papers with a side of wilting salad. 

"And whaddaya call the benches for cold stuffs?" asked Xander, taking a cake desert thing that was slathered sinfully in chocolate. It was wrapped up in glad wrap and Xander was pretty sure the chocolate would come off, but, hey, it was still chocolate.

"Um, we call 'em the 'benches for cold stuffs'," said Gunn, and then shrugged, taking a wrapped up apple muffin. "Hell, I dunno, its just the spot in the 'teria that gives us free food." 

"Fair enough." Their trays suitably loaded with food-like things, they made their way through the crowds, looking around. "You're tall, do you see anywhere?" asked Xander, trying to steady the lunch box before it slid off the end of his tray.

"Yeah, over here," said Gunn, veering to the left. The intimidating student seemed to create a suitable path, so Xander happily stood behind Gunn to get full benefit from said path. "Hey guys," Gunn said, sitting down in a seat. Xander sat down next to him to find that he was right opposite Faith and next to William, who gave him a welcoming smile.

"Hi Faith," Xander said a little tentatively. 

"Hey Xan," said Faith. She picked at her chocolate muffin, glancing at him. "Rough night?"

"The roughiest." 

"You mean the roughest?" asked Tara, from where she sat next to faith and opposite Gunn. She smiled a little to show she wasn't so serious and didn't think him to be illiterate.

"Yeah, that one," Xander said with a nod.

"I get that," Faith said. She sighed, shoving the mutilated muffin aside. "Listen, Xander, sorry 'bout exploding the other night-"

"It's fine."

"Nah, really-"

"It's fine," said Xander, a little bit more firmly. He lifted the lid of the plastic lunch box in front of him, stabbing at the wilting salad with the included plastic fork. "I was a little freaked, a little wigged out. But it's fine." Faith nodded and they exchanged a small smile.

"Hey, is Xander a fully fledged Scooby?" asked Tara brightly, nibbling on a carrot stick.

"A what now?" asked Xander, looking at everyone, glad that the tense demeanor of the group had been lifted.

"A Scooby," William repeated with an amused smirk. "It's a rather correct analogy Tara made up a few months back."

"Analogy to what?"

"Mystery Inc. in 'Scooby Doo'," Gunn said. "We fight the forces of darkness and solve supernatural mysteries. So if you're one of us, you're a Scooby."

"Most of the time we have to just crack books and make notes on the crazy crap that goes on here, but sometimes we break out with the fighting," Faith said, biting into her muffin. "And we get wicked cool weapons."

"Sounds neat," said Xander, unwrapping his burger. "Where'd you get the weapons from?"

"Well," started William, "you remember Ethan Rayne, a 7 on the Richter scale of freakiness as you so adequately put in?" Xander shuddered in response. "He's Faith's Watcher." He continued when Xander's befuddled expression said it all. "A Watcher is a man or woman who keeps track of the Slayer's progress while she trains and battles with demons, monsters…" Suddenly, the table had a new member, when a girl dressed on in black sat down opposite William. Xander blinked. The girl, a senior, had rather sickly pale skin, her hair falling in dark tresses over her shoulders. She wore a black dress and a black collar. Her eyes glinted rather strangely, and Xander tried not to shiver. "Erm," stammered William, "and that is the main plot of th-that n-novel I, um, I leant you," he covered up. "Drusilla, what do you want?"

Faith rolled her eyes a little in the girl's, Drusilla's, general direction, and Tara stared down at her food. "Oh come on William," Drusilla said, her voice English, cockney, "what's wrong with letting family join you and your friends?"

"Family?" blurted Xander, and William sighed wearily.

"Drusilla is my cousin-in-law," he said disdainfully. "My uncle married her mother a year back and so the story goes."

"We also live on the same street, isn't that so, Will?" she asked playfully. She had a slow, deliberate way of talking that reminded Xander of simpering, or perhaps a cat, personified, who was acting less than her age. In short, Drusilla seemed slutty to Xander, despite the modest black dress that reached her ankles. She wore no makeup, with the exception of the heavy black that surrounded her eyes. Xander thought she looked…dead. 

"And therefore I see you all the time so you can leave. Now," William said in a tone Xander would never have associated with him. Drusilla pouted, but she rose from her chair, circling the table so she stood next to William, who looked at her wearily. Slowly, like a pair of snakes, she round her arms gently around his neck in an almost threatening embrace, and Xander notice William stiffen. 

"Until we meet again then, _cousin_," she said, emphasis on the word cousin. She sauntered off, and William shuddered melodramatically. 

"Dude, your family is just plain weird," Faith said, arching an eyebrow.

"I _hate_ my family," the Brit sighed, and, without hesitation, there was a slight thump as his forehead connected with the table, arms folded above his head. Xander patted him on the shoulder lightly and sympathetically, before his started munching on his burger. 

"They don't hate you," supplied Gunn unhelpfully. "And hey, look at the bright side. You get to be the normal one."

"Gunn, I research and kill the forces of darkness for an extracurricular activity, _how_ am I normal?" came William's muffled reply. Gunn blinked and then gave a wry grin.

"Got me there. Yup, you and your family are all quirky. Deal."

There was a slight and obscured cry of dismay from William and everyone exchanged a round of amused glances. "So hey, if Xander wants to be a Scooby, he can come with us to the library after school to have a rundown with Ethan," Tara said excitedly. "We have regular Scooby meetings to see if there's anything we should be looking out for." Her excitement faded a little. "Oh, that's if you want to be a Scooby, 'cuz, just for a warning? We know not what the meaning of normality is. Ever."

"So, you can be a decent student with average grades, normal friends, mediocre hobbies and grow up to get a reasonable wage and become one of those sparkling citizens America loves so much, or," Faith said, pausing for effect. "You can sacrifice normality, deal with actual reality that there is evil in the world, come home late, learn more first aid than you can begin to imagine, let your grades drop a little and fight for the side of good without recognition or gratitude at all from said side of good. So, what's it gonna be, Harris?"

William lifted his head so he and the rest of the Scoobies could look at Xander, waiting for an answer. Xander leant back, before smiling wryly. "Do I get a membership card?"

---

The rest of the day went on without a hitch. Cordelia and the Cordettes, as Gunn had taken to calling them, had mostly ignored Xander, and he hadn't heard any rumors about attempted rape, so that was a definite plus. Science was dull but they did only practicals and went away homework-less. Social Studies was fine and Xander was able to hand in the little homework that was required – a sketchy paragraph on what he thought was the meaning behind the words 'Environmental Impact'. English was probably the most lazy thing Xander had done all day – as the class still worked on the project that had been given far before Xander had arrived, he didn't have anything to do except grin when Gunn glared at him in jealousy. 

Finally, the bell, the sweet beautiful bell, rang out loudly, and Xander stood, things already packed away in his bag, as there was no need to get stuff out. He walked out into the still empty hallway, waiting patiently as the rest of the class started filing out. Gunn promptly whapped him over the head. "Lazy ass," he said, and Xander snickered. Faith and Tara walked out, chatting about something, and then, finally, William emerged from the depths of the classroom.

"You're the last one out, what were you doing?" asked Faith.

William grinned happily. "Mr. Gerald," – the English teacher – "leant me a poetry book because he was noticing that I was writing a lot of poetry in my journal and he said that I'd rather enjoy it and that I was going very well in English and was passing with flying colours and-"

"Yo, slow down," laughed Gunn, and William settled for grinning as if he'd been given a Spiderman comic book that was signed by its creator. Or maybe that was just Xander. "You're so revved up on an itty bitty comment by a teacher? Man oh man are you gonna be annoying when we get our report cards."

"Hey, can we start migrating towards the library? This scene's old," Faith complained, though she flashed a supportive smile in William's direction. The group of five headed down to the library, chatting, though William had gotten out aforementioned poetry book and was reading avidly, trusting Tara to guide him and not letting him bump into things, as the strawberry blonde put a hand on the small of his silk-clad back.

"Trust me, all that crap Anne Rice writes about vampires is such…crap."

"But it's still good reading," Tara was arguing to Faith, just as Xander noticed a large crowd milling around the library's entrance.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but I never knew how avid Sunnydale students were to learn," Xander said, and the other four looked up. They all glanced at each other before breaking into light jogs, and then shoving their way methodically through the crowd. 

"Yo Ethan!" bellowed Gunn. The creepy, cool, calm collected man Xander had seen yesterday was edgy and nervous now as he walked over to them. Xander stood next to Gunn, and William hovered somewhere behind him. Tara stood on the other side of Gunn, looking worried and apprehensive, and Faith positioned herself in front of the group, a natural born leader. 

"Oh goddess!" cried Tara, when she saw what all the fuss was about. Xander saw her flutter a pale hand to her mouth as her greenish blue eyes filled with tears of sympathy. It was then Xander, through the policemen and women that had arrived at the library saw Drusilla, lying dead and stone cold on the floor. Her brown eyes were wide and glazed over, her mouth slightly parted. A small pool of blood lay cooling on the carpet just under her neck, and Xander tried not to gag when he saw the obvious bite mark he had seen a month ago on Buffy Summers, the same pattern scarred on the base of William's neck. As this thought ran through Xander's head, William stepped next to Xander so he could see. Before Xander could warn him, William gave a small cry and looked away, blue eyes wide behind his spectacles.

"Dude," murmured Gunn, his eyes glued to the scene.

"Oh god," said Xander, as he took in the girl's prone form, the prominent bite mark, the blood, the dazed, dead look in her eyes... Students fled and some gathered, making the crowd denser as they tried to get a peek at the dead body that was Drusilla.

"Lord," William was saying, and Xander turned to him. They met eyes before William turned and left the crowd, looking thoroughly shaken. Xander glanced back at Faith, who was talking to Ethan quietly. Gunn still stared at the horror, and Tara was looking stricken, backing up a couple of steps. Making a quick decision, Xander followed William, who was making fast time down the hall. 

"Wait, Will!" called Xander, and when the boy didn't stop, Xander broke into a run, grabbing William's arm and turning him around. The Brit had turned paler that usual, and was shaking. "Are you okay?" Stupid question, but the only one that sounded right.

"Yeah…yes, I'm…" He trailed off, shaking his head. "Dear god. I didn't like the girl but she didn't deserve that…" William trailed off once more, taking a few deep, quivering breaths. "I've seen a lot of dead bodies, but it never ceases to shock me. And she was there, today, alive. And now she's stone cold…"

"Hey," said Xander gently. "Are you going to be okay?" William nodded, and Xander removed his hand from the Brit's arm. "Good. C'mon, let's regroup." He led the now quiet William towards where Faith and the rest, including Ethan, had gathered, away from the now dispersing crowd around the entrance of the library. 

"Hey Will," Tara said gently, looking fretful and motherly. She embraced the boy, who smiled a little. 

"You okay man?" asked Gunn.

"I'm fine, really," said William in reply, disentangling himself from Tara. "Really. Mr. Rayne," he looked at Ethan, "how did she die?"

"The police are concocting all sorts of theories," said Ethan, rolling his eyes a little, "like suicide and an accident or a murder, as if she was stabbed in the neck." Xander shivered as his eyes met with Ethan's. "But it was, of course…" He trailed off, and looked at Faith meaningfully.

"Yeah, Xan's one of us," she confirmed, and the two students exchanged bittersweet smiles.

"She was bitten," Ethan said, glancing around to see if anyone was listening in. "I don't know how a vampire could have gotten into the school, but it happened. I was out, tracking down a student who was keeping an overdue book, and when I returned I found her. I rung up the authorities to take her body away, but not before I took the time to get a good look at her neck wounds. Definitely the work of a vampire, a female one, most probably."

"How the hell did you figure out its sex?" asked Faith, befuddled.

"M-male vamp's kinda have bigger jaws and mouths," Tara answered.

"It's a sad day when a tenth grader knows these tidbits of trivia," Xander quipped.

"Faith, I want you to patrol tonight," Ethan said authoritatively. "Don't go near the Bronze."

"Hey, that's cool, you guys wanna come with?" said Faith, mainly looking at Gunn.

"All for it," he answered.

"I can't," said Tara regretfully. "Mom wants me home tonight, so we can have a cliché family dinner, or something like that."

"Will?" The boy shrugged then nodded in answer. "Xan? Wanna experience your first patrol?" asked Faith, smiling as if to say 'I dare you to say no'. "It's wicked fun, and you'll get to kick some undead ass."

"Well, who can turn down an offer like that one?"

~~~

Ta-da? Hm. Yes, NOW it's beta'd. For some reason the "new, improved" version didn't get up there right away. *shrug* Anyhoozit, hope you enjoyed it!


	3. Abstract Discoveries

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Title: Morbid Curiosity

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Author: DC – devils_symphony@hotmail.com

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Disclaimer: If I had created 'Buffy', I wouldn't be here. Don't own, don't sue. 'Cept the plot. No one can claim that but me.

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Author's Notes: Hey. Thanks for taking an interest. Here's chapter three, the chapter that had me tempted to throw my computer out the window. Enjoy. 

---

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Abstract Discoveries

---

Graveyards had never been known to freak Xander out. He used to live a block away from one, and he remembered it as a peaceful place. It had been the same place that Buffy's funeral was staged at. Xander could barely remember what the minister had said about Buffy, or anything he had said for that matter. He remembered that the weather was warm, that her coffin had been shiny and that Buffy's mother, Joyce, had hugged him. He remembered crying.

But now it was nighttime instead of the morning, and this graveyard was bigger, and had a stretch of forest at the side of it, near the entrance. Under the dim streetlights, half moon and light emitting from buildings nearby and passing cars, the grass looked grey instead of healthy green. Everything looked grey. Dressed in ultra-casual gear, Xander greeted the three figures waiting by the graveyard's entrance. All wore the same sort of ultra-casual attire.

"Hey Xander," Faith said in greeting, and Gunn and William waved. "First patrol. Excited?"

"Terrified, but then again, that can easily be confused by giddiness," Xander said, shrugging and giving her a quick teeth-showing smile. He wasn't confused about what he felt – he was dead-set nervous, with a side of nausea and a smattering of fear. 

"Here," Faith said, and tossed him something. Xander caught it easily, and looked at it. The stake was maybe eight inches long, thick and light brown in colour. The end was pointed and very sharp, but the looks of it. "Straight through the chest, into the heart," the Slayer said, miming and then resting a hand over her own heart. "Dust goes vamp, job well done. Pretty straight forward."

"For a Slayer," pointed out William, who was holding what looked like a crossbow to Xander. 'Cool.' "Us mere humans find it a little less straight forward."

"Don't worry, I'll protect you," chuckled Faith, to Xander, who had gone a little wide-eyed. She then seemed to go into commando mode, and Xander could picture Gunn and William falling into line. "Okay. Vamps have gotten cocky. Cocky enough to raid the frickin' highschool for a quick feed. I want to show 'em who the hell's the alpha in this town."

"That would be you, right?" asked Gunn, mocking her a little. 

"Yeah, that _would_ be me," Faith said emphatically, ignoring the boy's sarcasm. "And they need to understand that if they don't lay low, they're as good as dust. So, we search the graveyard for fledglings. Then we hit the streets."

"What?" asked William, baffled.

"I know, I usually just patrol the 'yards, but hey, the vamp's ain't looking for victims here, are they? Nah, they'll be in the alleyways, lurking and stuff. Which is why we're also going to the Bronze as well. And Will, don't give me that 'but Mr. Rayne said blah-blah-blah' crap." William shut his mouth and gave her a disdainful glare. "Ethan's a great Watcher and all, but sometimes you gotta break a few rules to do the job well. So," Faith flicked her hair over her shoulder, "we split for now. Me and Xander, team number one, Will and Gunn, team number two. We meet back here in, what, an hour?" No one said anything, so Faith took that as an okay. "Alright. Let's go."

She walked in through the gates purposefully and veered right, and Xander glanced at the other two, who had started in the opposite direction. Shrugging, Xander caught up with the dark haired Slayer, fiddling with the pointed tip of the stake. They walked along the edge of the graveyard, nearing the forest before they started angling towards the centre of the cemetery. "So…we wander around, wait for a vampire to go 'grr' at us and kill it, or are we looking for them?" asked Xander after a few seconds of seemingly aimless walking.

Faith shrugged. "They come looking for us, we're food." Xander shivered at that and she smiled with a little sympathy. "It ain't that bad. Some of 'em just pop out outta their grave and we dust 'em. Hence the scenic surroundings." 

Xander made a noise that could be 'Oh', but it was too squeaky to be classified as a real word. He coughed a little, ignoring Faith's laughter. "How long have you been doing the whole Slayer thing?"

"Two years ago."

"So this is all second nature to you."

"It always was."

"Meaning…?"

"A girl's Chosen 'cause she already has that instinct in her. Fighting and shit, it's all there, just waiting for whatever mystic energy is out there to come along and give her a power boost." Suddenly, Faith did a one handed cartwheel, and landed, arms spread wide, grinning. "Ta-da." 

"Show off. I bet I could do that."

"Show me."

"I would, but suddenly, I have these unexplainable and spontaneous back problems…"

"Thought so." Faith stopped, and, from the recesses of her black sweatshirt, she brought out a stake. Xander noticed it to be a few inches longer than his. "Man, they're eager," she said quietly, no longer smiling. She looked around, her brown-tinted gaze predatory…no, wary. She wasn't hunting – she was being hunted. Xander gripped his own stake, looking around. He couldn't see anything. Before he could voice this, Faith interrupted his thoughts. "The mausoleum," she whispered, starting towards it. Xander hung behind, heart racing. Suddenly, Faith kicked open the doors. Inside it was dark, but nothing growly, fang-y or ridge-y jumped out. "Man, I could have sworn-" Faith's sentence was cut off when a vampire leaped down from on top of the mausoleum where he had been lying. Faith gave a startled yell as she went crashing down to the dry, grey-tinted grass, the vampire's arms outstretched. 

She kicked him off and he hit the side of a gravestone nearby. Hesitating but getting over it, Xander ran forward, holding up his with obvious uncertainty. The vampire looked up and snarled, fangs long and glistening. The vampire started to get up, but Xander was already there. Squashing his fear, Xander kicked the monster in the jaw, and when the vampire paused, dazed, he brought down his stake, pointed tip separating cloth, skin, muscle, penetrating heart.

With an animalistic screech that Xander remembered from last night, the vampire dissolved into an explosion of ash. Xander stood, putting an arm up and shutting his eyes as he was coated in the dust. "Huh," he said, wiping off said dust from his sweater. "Practical of them to die like that." He turned to see Faith giving him a wide, slightly crazed grin. "What?"

"Dude, that rocked!" she said, walking over. "You got mad skills. That was awesome."

"Eh, thanks," said Xander with a quirky grin. "You okay?"

"Five by five," said Faith, looking around.

"What by huh?"

But before Faith could clarify, she sidestepped Xander, jumping over the gravestone the vampire had been knocked into. She used the foot-high memorial as leverage to jump higher. Xander turned to see her plant a graceful kick right in the middle of a darkly clothed vampire's chest. She spun, giving the vampire a powerful backhanded punch, and the demon stumbled to the side, lurching under her assault. Xander started forward to help, when someone suddenly grabbed him by the shoulders, throwing him to the side. 

For a moment, there was a few seconds of peace, silence, weightlessness, before Xander landed with a thud on his stomach. "Oof!" he grunted. Dazed, he shook his head, before starting to get up. But someone, the same who had thrown him, grabbed the back of his jacket and hurled him up. Xander yelped when he found himself face to face with a vampire, yellow eyes gleaming.

"Thought you were pretty cocky dustin' the other guy?" he growled sinisterly and with a lisp, courtesy of the fangs too big for his mouth. "You ain't seen nothin' yet brother." Xander was shoved back, to see the vampire bear down on him. Giving a terrified yell, Xander rolled and shot to his feet, quick as lightning. The vampire was standing as well, and laughing. "Quick, ain't'cha?" Xander glanced over at Faith, who was dealing with two other vampires, having staked the second one she had kicked before. "Well, humor me. C'mon boy, let's fight." 

The vampire closed the space between them quickly, growling as he did so. Xander took a step back and tried to punch the guy in the neck – he had heard somewhere that it was one of the best places to do so – when his wrist was grabbed. The vampire laughed, applying pressure. Xander winced, trying not to say 'ow' out loud. He felt like his bone was at breaking point, so he stepped forward and brought his knee up. Hard. The vampire's yellow eyes crossed and he made a sound like 'gni' before double over. Heart pumping, adrenaline come in like a shock to his system, Xander brought the stake down, and the vampire was dusted. He turned to see Faith now fighting only one vamp, the other obviously having become the substance fit for an ashtray. A few more seconds and the second demon was dust too.

"Damn!" Faith exclaimed, trotting over to Xander. "That was twisted. Five of 'em in one go. All guys, too. Damn," she said again, running a hand through her black-mahogany hair. She grinned widely. "Now I'm pumped. That was fun."

"Fun in a really life-threatening kind of way, yeah," breathed Xander, panting from the short but intense fight. "I think I may sit down before I throw up. Sit down and then throw up. Whatever." He did so, on a wide gravestone, aware that this was said to be unlucky. But damnit, he wasn't feeling so good.

"Aw, c'mon, you think it was fun too," said Faith, stake hidden in her jacket once more. She gave him an arch look, crossing her arms and jutting a hip out slightly. Xander didn't notice the feminine sexiness as he glanced up at the rather starless night sky. He then gave her a broad grin.

"Okay, it was kinda cool when they got dusty," he said. "But not when they're all fangs 'n' ridges. Not so hot when they're about to break your wrist. Not cool."

"Gah, you'll get worse injuries," said Faith, waving it off.

"Faith, so not helping."

"Heh. Come on, the night's still young."

---

They encountered six more vampires, four in one go, a vampiress later on who was surprisingly hard to kill, and a cocky fledgling that had popped out of the grave that Xander had been standing on. That one had been easy to dust. All of this took up the rest of the hour, so they headed back to where were meeting the other two boys. After a minute, Gunn and William showed up, Gunn grinning widely, a slight bruise around his eye that could only get worse and William glaring at the world in general, sporting a split lip. "Run in with some baddies?" asked Xander.

"Isn't that the bloody truth?" asked William bitterly.

"Man, Faith, it was so cool!" Gunn exclaimed. "There was this one guy, who Will kept missing with that crossbow-"

"He was fast. Shut up."

"-and he was, like, some kinda ninja. But yeah, he's dead now. But it was cool." Gunn then got into some more fighting details with Faith, who started telling him about her and Xander's run in with the tag team from hell. Xander walked over to William, who was staring off into space.

"Did you have as much fun as Conan, over there?"

"Oh yes, I like being punched in the mouth," William said sardonically. "Almost as much as being kicked in the stomach, or thrown through the air."

"Ooh, I did that!" said Xander jovially, despite William's little cloud of irritability looming over them. "Just before my wrist was almost snapped. Oh, and then there was the head-kicking thing, which I thought was physically impossible for a vampiress in a dress." William's annoyed demeanor diminished and he gave the upbeat boy an amused look behind his glasses. "Then again, not so impossible. I was on the ground at the time and wishing I were dead. All in all, I great night."

William chuckled softly, glancing at the crossbow he held in his hands. Xander took the pause in conversation to notice that Brit-boy suited black. Or was that a dark blue turtleneck? The close fitting garment didn't suit the California warmth. "Aren't you hot in that?"

"Why thank you."

Xander blinked and faltered. "Gah, no, I meant-"

William laughed softly. "I know," he said. "And yes, it is, but vampire's don't like biting through fabric." 

"That makes sense. I thought you didn't own anything black."

"Oh no, this is dark blue." 

Before Xander could answer this, a deep, smooth voice interrupted him. "Well done, all of you, I'm impressed." All four turned to see a man walking over. They quickly regrouped, Faith, as usual, it seemed, taking the lead, her stance defensive. The man before them wore all black, with pale skin that signified his being a vampire. Dark brown hair, dark brown eyes, broad shoulders and a small amused smirk. "I mean, not everyone comes out alive when I send my roughest vampires. I suppose you killed them all?"

"Who are you?" asked Faith, not answering.

"Why? Never heard of a Slayer asking the name of a vampire she was set out to kill."

"Why don't you stop being melodramatic and answer my fucking question?"

"Ooh," the vampire said, putting up his hands defensively. He wore a thick silver ring on his middle finger, on his right hand. "Language. Now I'm scared."

"I'm gonna ask you once again, and only once," Faith said. On cue, William took a step forward, aiming the crossbow. "Who the hell are you?"

"Angelus," he answered, crossing his arms. Not a good stance to do when a Slayer's looking at you with murder in her eyes. This guy was cocky. "Get used to the name. You'll be hearing it a lot, Faith Philips." He tilted his head, giving her a critical gaze. "You're kind of small for a Slayer."

"You wanna give me a test drive?" asked Faith, stepping forward.

"Not yet," Angelus answered. His dark eyes flickered to Xander, and the tenth grader received a highly amused smirk, which made him shift uncomfortably. "Soon, Faith, soon." He winked, and started towards the stretch of forest, the clack-clad demon seemed to fade away in the shadows of the trees.

"That guy gave me the heebie-jeebies," said Xander, shuddering theatrically. 

"We should go after him," Gunn said, still staring off at the forest.

"Gone now." Faith's voice was slightly empty. She shrugged and turned towards the group. William had long since lowered his crossbow and was glancing worriedly towards the forest, as if expecting Mr. Tall-Dark-and-Handsome to spring forth with a flaming torch. "Okay," she said, rubbing her hands together, "cryptic shit aside, we got more patrolling to do."

"Maybe we should call it night, it was kind of rough out there," said Xander, gesturing towards the depths of the cemetery. He then shrugged. "Unless that's normal for you guys."

"Nah, it's kinda not," Gunn said, then he turned to Faith. "As much as the fun I'm having, maybe Xan's right. We could turn in now."

"I for one want to get home before my parents come back from wherever the hell they went," William said. Xander gave him a confused look, and the Brit shrugged. "They left a note saying they'd be late. I didn't take too much notice."

"Okay, fine, you guys go, I'm gonna scout the streets," Faith said. She held out her hand to William. "I'll drop it off at Ethan's." The crossbow was handed over. 

"You'll be fine on your own?" asked Gunn.

"Yo, Slayer here, not actually meant to have friends helping me out," assured Faith. "Later, guys." The three boys muttered their farewells as Faith strode down the street, as if she was the hottest bitch ever to hold a crossbow casually. Xander guessed she probably was. He never really noticed. 

---

It was verging on ten minutes past eight when Xander got home. He pocketed the stake Faith had accidentally given him, and opened the locked door with his spare key. It was a pretty average sized home, nothing particularly glamorous. So much for an improved life with Tony Harris's (Xander's father) new job. It didn't matter to Xander, like the points on 'Whose Line Is It Anyway?' He stepped inside to be greeted with the sounds of the TV and bustling in the kitchen. He walked past the entrance to the lounge room.

"Xander!" Xander paused at his father's yell, stopping at the entrance. 

"Yeah Dad?" he asked, looking at Tony. The man was sitting on the couch in sweatpants, a T-shirt and a flannel shirt. His eyes glanced away from the television screen.

"Where were you?"

"Out."

And that seemed to be it for Tony's paternal concern. He nodded, ran a hand through his grey hair and turned back to television. Xander paused for a few moments to see if his father would ask anymore, but when there was only TV sounds, Xander shrugged, rather glad that that was it for questions, and went down the hallway, passing his mother, Jessica, in the kitchen, who was washing a few dishes, and into his room. He shut the door tiredly with a dull 'click', and looked around. Boxes, some open and some closed, littered the room, and just made Xander feel even more tired. Taking the stake out of his pocket and placing it discreetly in his sock drawer, he sat down on his unmade bed, kicking off his shoes. 

Xander had unpacked his clothes, and a few other essential items, but the rest of his belongings resided in the brown cardboard boxes around him, five containers in total. Moving the closest one over to him, he looked inside, taking out a stack of comic books he had collected over the years. He stuck them under his bed, where they had always inhabited, no matter where he lived. 

After a little bit more digging, Xander pulled out a photo frame, the only one he had. A boring black frame and the glass was a little dirty. He wiped away dust and stared at the picture. It was a picture of him and two friends, taken years back by a teacher in fourth grade. Little Xander Harris was giving a goofy smile to the camera, unruly black hair tangled from playing. Xander snickered, noticing that one of his teeth had been missing in this shot. Photo-Xander was holding the hand of Photo-Buffy Summers, her blonde hair in pigtails. On the other side of Photo-Xander, arm wrapped around Photo-Xander's shoulders, was Photo-Jesse, one of his friends in L.A that he was planning to call. 

Xander smiled at the shot. Jesse had dug it up from the depths of what he had so affectionately called the Junk Drawer, and given it to Xander, knowing his life long friend would appreciate it. And he did. He placed the little picture of memories on his set of drawers.

Xander sighed, grinned suddenly and talked directly to the photo. "Jesse, dude, I'm a vampire hunter. How cool is that?"

---

The first person Xander was greeted by the next day was Tara, who bounded over eagerly. "How was it? How was patrol?" she asked giddily. "Did you dust any vamps?" Her voice lowered a little as a gaggle of students passed them by. Xander shrugged, as she and he walked over towards the lockers. He was holding a piece of paper with the combination for an assigned locker, which he had gotten from Student Inquiries for locker rental, ten bucks a year. He found said locker and looked at the paper, fiddling with the dial. 

"Oh, you know," he said, grinning triumphantly as the locker swung open, "the life of a super hero," he continued casually, piling in a few books and a plastic bag containing his physical education gear. Tara giggled a little. "Kill a few, dust a few…" He grinned. "I brought down four." Tara's jaw dropped. "There were a lot of vamps, so really, it was only a small fraction," he said modestly, flicking the locker closed again and twirling the combination lock.

"You haven't been slaying before, have you?" asked Tara, feigning suspicion. "Because when I started out, I think I staked a vampire three times missing each time before Gunn rescued me. I also ran around in circles." Xander snickered at the visual. "And Will's first time involved a lot of misfires with the crossbow and a lengthy chase. So, you're not some kind of undercover demon hunter, are you?"

"Nah, I was a virgin to the slayage," Xander assured. "But not anymore, and I plan to do it again."

"You slut, you," teased Tara, grinning and blushing lightly, matching her pink necklace. Tara had a really earthy look about her, Xander had decided, all the way from her rose quartz necklace to her favored floral print peasant shirts to her long, dark green skirt. "Anyway," she said, pushing a lock of strawberry blonde hair behind her ear, the rest of it gathered in a low pony tail, "I stopped by the library today and it's now a library instead of a crime scene, and Ethan told us that we're having a Scooby meeting after school, though not in those words. You there?"

"I'm there," Xander agreed with a nod.

"A-and…um…" The witch-in-training bowed her head bashfully.

"Yeah?" asked Xander patiently. 

"I was, um, I was wondering…well, y'see, there's this spring d-dance, its just a-a-an excuse to have a dance, but, um, anyway," stammered Tara. She blushed scarlet, out shading her necklace now. "Did you want to go? It's kinda silly, but it should be sort of fun…"

"I'll be there. Are the other three coming?"

"Oh, yeah, they'll be there," Tara said, shifting her weight from one foot to the other. "But I kinda meant…did you want to go with me?" There was a pause, and Tara covered up. "O-or we could all go as a group, but we can just go together, if you want, and it can be just a once off date type thing, it's n-not like we-we'd be a couple o-or anything-"

Xander snapped out of his stupor, and smiled. "I'll go with you."

"Really?" she asked, smiling happily.

"Sure. It'll be great. We can drink punch, dance, laugh at those making out in the corners, throw stupid piece of decoration at them and run away…" 

Tara giggled at the thought. "Yeah, why not? As friends."

Xander nodded in definite agreement. "As friends."

"Well, anyway," said Tara, her blush fading away back to normal, "it's in a week and a half-ish." The bell rang suddenly, signaling that all students should head to class. "Oh, options," she said. "I take Drama. What do you do?"

"Art, a nice no-brainer where I can finger paint and all it abstract," he said, earning a chuckle from Tara. They said their partings and went off on opposite directions, Xander feeling slightly stunned that Tara had asked him out on a sort-of date. As friends. Xander had never gone on a date before: a fact only two people in the world new, one had taken the info to her grave, and the other was in a different city. 'Still, first time for everything,' thought Xander positively, 'like slaying. Only stabbing Tara in the heart with a wooden stake wouldn't be favorable.'

Xander stopped outside a classroom, happy that he hadn't gotten lost. A few other students gathered there, and one of them was William. The two smiled when they saw each other, walking over. "You're taking Art," said William with a little bit of surprise. 

"I'll give it back though."

Williams snickered. "Why Art?"

Xander shrugged. "Thought it would be easy to pass. I was thinking of taking a piece of wood, attacking it with a chisel and calling it a masterpiece." Another snicker. "Why are you taking Art?"

"Well, Mum wanted me to do something that 'tugged at the creative needs of my soul', whatever that means. Very weird."

"I'll bet. What's your other option?"

William sighed. "Food Technology, as the teachers put it. Cooking, in other, normal words."

"Fun?"

"If you like burning things, yes."

At that point, the teacher opened the door, and students filed inside. The long desks made a squared 'U' shape, and William and Xander took a spot on a corner. Looking around, Xander sighed when he noticed Cordelia and the Cordettes dominating on side of the 'U'. "Ah nuts. They're here."

"I know. They mostly ignore me setting aside the occasional insult," William said, taking out a black pencil case and pulling out a pencil. Xander did the same. The teacher, a tall, rather pretty but gaunt black woman stood in front of the room, dressed in a white turtleneck and black pants. She also wore a silk scarf coloured many colours. "That's Mrs. Partridge, she's really nice if you actually have any sort of skill," William explained quietly, as the classroom began to hush. "But she'll turn into the worst thing the Hellmouth has to offer if you mock Art in anyway."

"As goes the basic Art teacher, you have to feel sorry for them," answered Xander.

Mrs. Partridge silenced the room and explained that they would be leaving behind drawing techniques, and they'd be working with paint. ("Thank god," William had muttered, indicating that Xander had missed the worst.) She handed out some A3 sized pieces of paper, blank colour charts that they were to fill in with paint. The students were also intructed to go and get the necessary tools, and to get a move on. William went to get them paintbrushes and a jar of water, while Xander queued up, ice cream container lid in hand (a make shift palette of sorts that the students had grabbed), waiting to approach the 'Paint Table' to get said paint ('what was this, primary school?'). In front of him was Cordelia, and he rolled his eyes.

A blonde, one of the Cordettes Xander had seen on his first day, bounded over to Cordelia. "Um, Cordelia," she started, "what else do we need other than the brushes?"

"A jar of water," came Cordelia's reply.

The blonde wrinkled her nose. "Why? I'm not thirsty. Are you thirsty?" Xander tried not to laugh.

"Harmony, it's for rinsing off the brushes once we've used them," Cordelia said patiently. From Xander's angle, he couldn't see the look on her face. 

"Oh, right!' Harmony answered, before spinning on her heel and walking over to the taps.

"Intelligent conversation is limited in your world, huh?" Xander said. Cordelia looked around, surprised, not aware that he had been behind her. Her surprised look was quickly replaced by one of disgust and disdain.

"Yeah, that's because you're in it. Stand back a few feet and maybe I'll recover the brain cells I lost by talking to you, loser," she said, turning her back on him.

"You have none too lose, Cordelia."

Cordelia turned again. "Oh, sorry, did I make it seem that I wanted a conversation to you? Did I make the word 'loser' sound nice? Did I come off friendly and approachable?"

"No, no and with a side of no."

"Good. Now take the hint, Harris." Xander was faced with the back of Cordelia Chase once again. He smiled a little in amusement. Winding Cordelia up was actually kind of fun. But he decided to stop nagging her. For now. After a minute, he got the paint he needed, and walked back over to where William was waiting.

"I got the impression that Cordelia doesn't like you, from where I was standing," said William, amused. 

"The 'I hate you' vibe was that strong, huh? At least I don't have to resort to asking her to that spring dance I heard about," Xander said, grabbing a paintbrush and glancing over the empty colour chart. He then paused. Spring dance. Oh yeah. "Tara asked me to go with her."

William looked at him with obvious surprise, grabbing the other paintbrush and dabbing it into the splotch of blue paint that had been precariously dripping off the side of the 'palette'. "She did? Tara? She asked you? That was awfully forward of her. For Tara, at least." 

"And mighty surprising for me. I didn't even know there was a spring dance," said Xander, drowning the bristles of his brush in fire hydrant red. Now their brushes matched William's shirt, which was a rather awful concoction of bright red and poisonous blue vertical stripes. William shrugged, gazing avidly at his work as he neatly filled in a box with the blue. "You realize you look like a jockey at the horse races, right?"

"Fully aware," said William a little curtly. 

Xander frowned at his tone, absently blotting the red onto his page in the general direction it was meant to go. "Uh, did I say something wrong? That was only a j-"

"It's just…Gunn and Faith obviously fancy each other," William said, looking up at Xander. "Gunn will ask Faith, or he'll become a wimp and she'll ask him out, so it'll be to pairings and a fifth wheel. Not that I'm saying that there's anything wrong about you and Tara walking out together, but I may as well not go." There was a silence as William dabbed a little bit more paint onto his brush. Xander smiled, slowly, and William looked up at him. "What?" he asked suspiciously.

"You're sulking."

"Am not!" 

"Yes you are."

"No, I don't do sulking."

"Okay, but you're being a martyr."

"Oh bloody hell, I was just _saying-_"

"If you just want to go with everyone as a group, just say so, no one will mind."

"Xander, trust me, I'd rather go alone then do something like that," William said, going back to his work. Xander hesitated before reaching over with paint-loaded brush and dabbing William's cheek with it. "Oh!" The paint victim jerked back, looking at Xander in shock. "What was that for?"

"Sulking."

"I wasn't-" William gave up that sentence and settled for glaring at Xander darkly, who laughed. The Brit tried to wipe away the red dot of paint, causing it to smear like a bad impression of a scar. He sighed. "I just made it worse, didn't I?"

"You bet'cha." William sighed, nodded resignedly, and went back to his work. Xander snickered and did the same, only to feel the slick, cool feeling of a loaded paint brush slide across his jaw line. "Hey!" he said, looking up at mischievous blue eyes. "You are so not the proper little English boy you pretend to be."

"I know, it's all a big cover up, I'm really Satan's son," William answered quickly, before going to blot Xander with blue paint again. Xander quickly put up a hand and grabbed it. He winced a little as he felt the ever so icky wetness of the brush, the paint seeping into his hand's crevices. He quickly darted his brush forward, creating a rather thick streak parallel to William's glasses and perpendicular to the bridge of his nose. "Oi! Unfair," William complained, grabbing Xander's paintbrush, red paint oozing out of the crevice between his middle finger and his ring finger, like fake blood in a cheap horror flick.

"Boys!" They stopped and looked up meekly at Mrs. Partridge, who was giving them a cool 'we are not amused' look. "Because you're new," cool look in Xander's direction, "and you're one of my better students," cool look in William's direction, "you get off easy. Next time, separate sides of the room and potential detention. Now go, clean up."

Both students mumbled apologies, dropped what they were doing and hurried outside. They glanced at each other and burst out laughing. "Think we'll get a good mark for abstract painting?" asked Xander after their giggles had subsided. They headed towards the men's room.

"Possibly."

"Think we'll just get our asses kicked if we do that again?"

"More likely than the former." William pushed open the door, the universal sign for the guys' toilets displayed clearly. A boy with brown hair, blue eyes and tanned skin was on his way out, and gave William and Xander strange looks as he went. William smiled brightly and continued on his way into the men's room. Xander grinned a little, following.

"Bloody hell, did you have to put so much on?" William was asking as Xander ran a tap. The Brit wrinkled his nose a bit, indicating the wide, red strip that ran across it.

"You started it."

"How in hell did I start it, Xander Harris?"

"You have a paintable quality." 

William snorted diversely, before taking off his glasses and placing them carefully on the side of the sink he was using. Xander grinned innocently at him, before cupping his hands under the warmish water, and splashing his won face. The blue streak started washing away easily. When they had finished, Xander turned to dry his hands on the warm fan, before turning to see William replacing his glasses and revealing quite a large bruise on his jaw. Xander blinked. He hadn't seen that before.

"Er…did you fall down something in the time it took my to wash my face?"

"What? Oh, right." William suddenly put his hand his pocket and took out what looked like to Xander to be a square piece of black plastic. "Stuff must have washed off," he muttered, before addressing Xander. "No, the bruise is from that night at the Bronze. I didn't want my parents to see it and get the wrong ideas, so I use this." He indicated the square. "It's one of Mum's many, so I didn't feel too bad in pinching it."

"Cool. What is it?"

"Erm…foundation," William said quietly. "I kind of have to, ever since they started asking questions. And I thought, well, I've already lost enough macho points, why not sacrifice a few more? Besides, I don't use the stuff for a 'glowing complexion', just for bruises." William snapped the square open, to reveal a pinkish square inside, along with a small, rectangular sponge thing.

Then it clicked inside Xander's head. "Oh, it's make-up." He chuckled a little.

"Well done," William said dryly, running the sponge under the tap, his tone suddenly cynical. "This was Tara's idea, not mine, just for reference. And by the way, seeing I survived merciless teasing by Gunn, who doesn't care if he comes home with a black eye, I think I can withstand any snide comments you have on the subject." The statement wasn't really accusing, just bitter matter-of-fact. William didn't look at Xander has his hastily and expertly applied the cover up foundation, minus the careful, delicate way a girl would do if she was bestowing it. He treated the stuff as if it was essential, 'and it is,' Xander realized. 

"I wasn't planning on teasing you, Will."

Finishing the hasty exercise, William snapped the thing shut and pocketed it, tilting his head a little bit at Xander. "Oh. Well, thanks then," he said. His bruise seemed to have magically disappeared. He gave Xander a small smile as they headed out of the bathroom. It was then Xander started comprehend that not only were vampires a danger, but so was the level of secrecy the Scoobies had maintain in order to keep battling them. Hiding stuff from Xander's parents wasn't so bad, but for people like William, Tara, and for all he knew, Faith, it had to make simple living kind of hellish. So Xander wasn't about to comment on Tara's absence at patrol the other night, or William's stolen cosmetics, as ridiculous as it seemed. Nor was he going to question it.

---

The day went on with the normal ease and faults as most schooldays did. Xander had had an annoying run in with the Cordettes during break, before Gunn had come along. The twittering girls, now confronted with someone who would actually be defined as 'cool' in their books, left it at that. The only other low point was Faith's jabbing him in the ribs with her elbow whenever the spring dance was mentioned, and also, the dreaded Physical Education. Xander was never particularly good at basketball, except, perhaps, in speed. Gunn was a star, and William had surprisingly good aim, both outshining Xander at least 90% of the time. 'Grr.'

During lunch, the cafeteria had served up something new and particularly disgusting – it was a type of stew that was brown, thick and lumpy, with pieces of vegetable bobbing around in it, the broccoli and pieces of tomato the only form of recognizable food in the goo that Xander claimed was evolving into a different species'. So the Scoobies gave cafeteria a miss and started wandering around outside, generally enjoying the fresh air, all wishing that they were seniors and able to exit the campus.

Finally, the end of the day arrived, and they all gathered in the library. Ethan smiled in greeting (not the most pleasant smile in the world) as they all assembled around a table. Faith put her booted feet up on the table and leant back in her chair so that it was teetering precariously on two legs. "Now, see, if I did that? I'd fall. Does super Slayer powers also come with being able to look cool on chairs?" asked Xander, settling down on a seat next to Faith.

"You know it, Mr. Harris," she said, stretching her arms up above her head.

"Though I don't think Ethan actually trains her in that," said Tara, sitting down on a seat opposite Faith, flashing a cute smile in Xander's direction.

"You'd be surprised," Ethan said dryly, walking over and carrying two thick looking books. "Tara, William, I thought you to might be interested in borrowing these." He put one down in front of Tara (a cream coloured leather book with black writing on the front) and passed one to William, who was walking back from his venture to the Return Slot, having shoved four books in. He grabbed the black book, and frowned, sitting down next to Tara and in front of Xander.

"The cover is wooden," he said, mystified. "How old could wood-"

"Preservation spell," Ethan answered with a slight smirk. "I doubt I have to tell you to be careful with it, William."

"'Fortune, Herb and Candle Charms,'" said Tara, smiling happily. "Thanks Ethan."

"I can't read it," William said with a frown, a finger tracing over the engraved title. Faith took down her feet to lean forward to have a closer look at it. Gunn, sitting at the head of the circled table between Xander and William leaned over.

"That isn't the title," Ethan said cryptically.

Tara glanced over, bemused. "Runic symbols for a preservation spell," she said, off-handed, returning to flipping through her own borrowed book. William gave her a mild glare before turning the covers to have a look at the title.

"'Dark Arts and Magicks,'" he read allowed. Tara looked up, concern etched out on her pretty features now, replacing interest in her own book. "Ethan, this…I would think that whatever this book contains holds spells and information that's against white magick principles." He flicked through it carefully, as if something was going to launch out of the pages and attack.

"It is," Ethan answered, sitting down at the rounded table between Faith and Tara. "But William, I thought you wanted to actually study magicks."

"I-I do, but this-"

"This is merely some insight into the darker side of witchery and magicks. Surely, if you want to study something, you have to look at it from both sides." He cast a dark, triumphant smile as William nodded weakly and put the thick volume into his bag. Xander shifted nervously, meeting eyes with the worried student before him. 'I don't like Ethan,' he decided. 

"Moving on," Ethan said, clasping his slightly gnarled hands together. "Faith?"

"Last night was busy," Faith said, resting her elbows on the table and holding her arms as she slouched forward. "Me and Xander ran into, what, ten vamps? Eleven? How about you guys?" she asked, looking at Gunn and then at William. 

"I counted six," William answered.

"Seven," Gunn corrected. He looked at Ethan. "Is they're something big in the vamp world that we don't know about? 'Cause they were pretty damn plentiful last night, if you ask me."

"And coming into the school for a snack isn't normal vampire behavior," Tara pointed out, hands rested on the cream coloured book in front of her, fingers entwined. "Either they're really stupid or really sure of themselves."

"And if the latter, why are they so sure of themselves?" William added.

Xander's head turned from one to the other has they added they're two cents worth. He felt out of his depth, in over his head, far from his comfort zone, and whatever other sayings went along with being uncomfortable and useless. "All very good observations," Ethan praised lightly. "And you're all right." He stood up and started pacing around the table. "It seems that there has been the arrival of a master vampire, I don't know which one. All the vampires are either laying low or joining him. They plan to take over Sunnydale."

"Angelus?" asked Xander suddenly.

"Pardon?" countered Ethan, pausing behind Tara. 

"Yeah, that Angelus guy," Faith said.

"What is every so caught up in?" pressed Ethan. Everyone looked at Xander, waiting for an answer. Xander felt a very slight blush spread across his cheeks at the sudden attention.

"Uh…" He looked up at Ethan. "This vampire guy, after patrol he came up to us and said that we had done well in killing all those other vamps. He also said that they worked for him, and he told Faith to get used to his name, Angelus, because she'd be hearing it again."

"How very interesting," Ethan said, resuming his pacing. "This seems to be undoubtedly the master vampire I heard so much of. Did he fight you, any of you?"

"Nah, he just walked away," Faith answered.

"Should of shot the pillock," muttered William, berating himself. 

But something was bothering Xander. "How did you know about the master vampire in Sunnydale?" he asked, looking at Ethan pointedly, if not somewhat accusingly.

"I have contacts on the other side, magicians and the what," Ethan said offhandedly, oblivious to the accusation Xander had placed. Both Tara and Gunn, picking up on Xander's tone, looked at him strangely. The Watcher sat down, folding his arms. "Either way, at least we know what the master vampire, Angelus, looks like. Faith, I want you to patrol again tonight and search for him. If you can, I want you to bring back an article of his – a piece of hair will do. Don't kill him if you can, I want to know where his nest is residing. Than I want Tara and William to help me in a locator spell."

"We need property of Angelus for that?" asked William, confused. "I thought-"

"We only do a run of the mill locator spell if we're looking for a type of demon," Tara said. "There are loads of vamps in Sunnydale, so pinpointing which one is Angelus would be like trying to find a needle in…well, Sunnydale. We use something that belongs to the person if we want to find that one person." William crossed his arms with a tiny dose of petulance as Faith laughed lightly.

"Ooh, Will, outclassed, outdone, and outshone but the Good Witch of the North," the Slayer taunted, laughing again at William's glare. 

"Not my fault if Glinda grew up with a witch for a mother."

"But I thought you were only starting witchcraft?" asked Gunn, surprised at what seemed to be new information for him.

"Yeah, I only found out that Mom's a Wicca a few weeks ago. She said that it was fate that I had taken an interest, so she started teaching me a few things," Tara said, smiling at this.

"Anyway, I think we can safely say that the meeting's over," Ethan said. "Faith, up for training?"

"Sure thing," Faith said, standing up. "Oh, hey, anyone wanna join me for my nightly romp? Gunn, you got my back, right?"

"Actually, not tonight," Gunn said, and everyone looked at him with surprise. 

"What? But you're always patrolling," William said, frowning. "You're like gravity – always there."

"Yeah, well, there's this demon bar my brother wants to bring down," Gunn said, shrugging. "The whole gang's going, and I figure, I might as well be there for 'em as much as I'm there for you guys. So sorry, not tonight. Some other time I'll may it up."

"That's cool," said Faith nodding. "Anyone else?"

"My parents are going to be out all night to night, I'll come," said William.

"Why not? Better than Math homework," said Xander, smiling cheerfully.

"Well, I…" Tara bit her bottom lip. "I kinda wanna have a peek at this book," she drummed her fingernails against the thick cover, "but if you really want me there, I can-"

"Nah, it's cool Tar," said Faith, with the same nickname Gunn had said on the first night of Xander's Sunnydale socializing. "So, power of three. Two guys, one girl, I like those odds."

---

"I thought you said that you had liked the odds of two guys and a girl," William argued.

"And a pizza place," muttered Xander, earning a cuff over the head by William for the lame joke.

"Yeah, but c'mon, this is a small graveyard. Just a quick sweep before we head over to Manners Graveyard to look for Angelus," Faith argued back. "And it'll go faster if we split up. I'll go through the centre and you two can go opposite ways around the perimeter."

The three members of the Scooby Gang who had volunteered for patrolling duties now stood at the entrance to the small graveyard dubbed Carmichael's Cemetery. The sun had just set, and the sky had taken on a deep purple tint before turning into the inevitable ebony. Faint stars dotted the sky, and the moon had hidden behind a cloud. Xander crossed his arms, the stake he had received the last night held in one hand. "Right, split up, all the better for vampire's to kill us without having someone to distract the," William said sardonically, in favor for all three scouting out the graves together. Xander silently agreed, but he thought it better just to keep silent.

"Fine, whatever, I'll go by myself and you can have Xander to protect you," Faith snapped. She stepped over to Xander, who started to take a stride back when she thrust the hilt of the short sword she was carrying towards him. Hesitantly, he took it, and as soon as he did, Faith snatched away his stake and started into the graveyard, turning left.

"Just try and patrol without Slayer strength!" William yelled after her, glaring as she gave him the one-fingered salute over her shoulder. "Maybe you'll see what its like," he muttered under his breath, loading up his crossbow that Xander was beginning to think was a favourite for the boy.

"So, you're mom just found out about Drusilla, eh?" Xander said, trying to pinpoint William's moodiness. At William's confused look, Xander continued. "You were saying that the funeral was gonna be this Sunday and that you're mom almost didn't want to go to that convention thingy to night and was making a fuss, which is why you were late getting here, so I figured it."

"Observant. Yeah, Drusilla's parents phoned her today, and then she yelled at me for a bit about the fact that I didn't tell her," William explained with a sigh as they started walking. "Father finally dragged off to wherever the hell they cleared off to."

"Sensing a few bitter vibes, there."

"Sorry for vibing at you, then." As they walked, Xander wondered whether or not that that comment was meant to be lighthearted or malicious. He then just decided that William was a subtle, complex individual that would take a while to really get to know. But Xander had a while. 

"Anyway, Faith winds me up rather easily," William said, filling in the silence that had descended upon the two. "I try not to let her, but it just happens. She can be a right bitch when she wants to be." Xander almost dropped the sword he was holding. He had pictured William as one for swearing, ever. "What? She can," William said defensively when he mistook Xander's pause as disagreement. 

"Well, I don't really know her, so…" Xander trailed off because A) he didn't know how to finish that sentence and B) there was the sudden sound of a low, menacing growl. "…I'm not one to judge," he finished. The two paused their walking, and Xander held up the sword like a baseball bat while William's arms tensed, ready to lift and aim the crossbow. 

"Hello boys." They both swung around, Xander gripping the sword all the more tightly, and William holding up the crossbow. Angelus smiled widely then laughed at their reactions, his hands clasped behind his back. "I guess you didn't expect me to be here, seeing I met you at Manners, and all, but y'see, it doesn't matter." Suddenly, William fired, and Angelus quickly sidestepped the arrow, though not before it glanced off, ripping through soft, white cotton shirt the vampire now sported, cutting a decent sized slash across the vampire's upper arm, just below his shoulder. A deep crimson line trickled down his arm, staining the fabric. "He's fast," Angelus said, holding his other hand to his arm. "Not fast enough."

"Next time I won't miss," threatened William, as he hastily tried to reload the crossbow. 

"Maybe. But you won't get another chance." Out from behind numerous tall monuments and gravestones, five vampires crept out, each showing off their oversized fangs by widely grinning. Xander glanced around at them all. "Now, don't play too rough," Angelus said, starting to walk away. "I've got a date with the Slayer. Later."

Before they could react, the vampires circled them, and moving in. Promptly, William dusted one with a well-aimed shot, and the other four jumped, startled. "Zey underestimate zee force zat is Will power," said Xander in a bad French accent. The accent was for cheap laughs, and to cover up his own terror. William snorted, reloaded the crossbow, just as one leapt for him. William quickly sidestepped and Xander brought the sword crashing down, lodging it into the vampire's shoulder blade. The demon howled in pain. Xander brought the sword up just as he was pulled back by the throat, a snarl sounding so very loud right next to his ear. He used the momentum and pushed back, both Xander and vampire falling to the ground. The grip on his throat loosened and Xander rolled away, bringing the sword down to cut off his head. He turned to see William shoot another vampire, and as that one crumpled into dust, the last remaining one brought the boy crashing down. William landed hard on his back, crossbow lying dejected a few feet away. William's arms were instantly held down as the vampire pinned him.

Before the vampire could try and rip William's throat out, Xander lunged forward. He pushed a knee into the small of the vampire's back for leverage, before quickly decapitating the vampire by forcing the sword under the vampire's chin and pulling upwards, grabbing the hilt in one and the tip of the sword on the other, accidentally cutting his own fingers by doing so.

As the vampire became nothing more than just dust, Xander fell, knee that had been holding the vampire in place landing ungracefully in William's stomach. They both groaned, Xander rolling off his fellow Scooby when William's muffled voice told him that he was crushing him. The sat up, looking worn out, but they gave each other dazed half smiles. "Saved you," Xander said between pants.

"And then you killed me," William pointed out, wrapping an arm around his stomach for indication. They laughed a little, hearts hammering. With a sigh, William lay down on his back. 

"We have to go help Faith," Xander said. "We should go."

"No, I like it here," William protested dryly.

"Nah, we have to get moving," Xander argued, even as he lay down beside William as well. 

"Yes, we should stand right now and walk right over to where Faith may be in trouble."

"Exactly. Getting up." 

"Yes."

When neither of them moved for a few moments, they burst into uproarious laughter, nerves frazzled, left over adrenaline making them giddy from having felt like they'd almost had to ascend the big Stairway to Heaven. "Near death experiences equal idiocy and uncontrollable manly giggles," Xander said between laughs.

"Emphasis on the 'manly'," added William, an arm over his eyes. He then propped himself up on his elbows, looking down at himself as his chuckles subsided. "Oh dear, covered with dust, yet again."

"Vamp's just can't get enough of ya," Xander said with a smile, brushing a finger across William's fairly exposed neck, just over where the scarring would be, indicating it to match his point. William glanced at him and seemed to shift uncomfortably at the contact, and Xander felt himself wanting to do it again. 

"No one can," William chuckled sardonically, sitting up properly, and Xander did the same. There was a pause and the two glanced at each other. William quickly stood up, as if to hide the deep blush, that Xander had noticed, that had started rising from his neck. "We should find Faith," he said, quickly walking away. Xander reluctantly got to his feet, slightly dazed from his sudden urges. 

'What's wrong with me?' he wondered rhetorically, before following. 

---

Apparently, Faith hadn't had a run in with Angelus, despite the vampire's words. Xander wondered if he had been watching Xander and William fight the five vampires instead of chasing the leather-clad Slayer. Xander trailed behind the two as they talked, all three walking towards the large Manners Graveyard that they had been at the night before. William was telling Faith about their encounter with the mysterious and alleged master vampire, and then about the fight with the five vampires. No details about what happened afterwards, of course. Faith just didn't need to know that the two fifteen-year-old boys had been rolling around on the grassy floor, giggling like schoolgirls for a good five minutes, or anything else related.

"So we sweep Manners for a bit, see if we can't find Mr. Dark-and-Looming, then head homewards," Faith said. Xander and William both nodded as they approached the forest edged cemetery. It was as grey as Xander remembered it to be. He had exchanged the short sword for the stake, finding it easier to kill with rather than having to muster the strength to decapitate. 'Big yuck,' he thought, thinking about how the vampire's head and sort of spun off just before it has exploded into dust.

"Think he'll be here?" asked William.

"Yeah, I think so," Faith said, taking the lead and walking in confidently, William and Xander flanking her. 'So this is what it's like to be a sidekick,' Xander thought, mentally sighing. 'Oh well, better than being an innocent bystander. They always die.' He then brightened. 'Ooh, and sometimes the sidekick becomes the main character, like that _Batman_ twist in the comics. Cool.'

The night seemed to stretch on. The trio encountered one rising fledgling vampire which Faith dusted with casual grace with one swoop of her sword as the vamp stuck his head out of the ground. "I swear, that'll never stop being freaky," Xander had said with a shudder to emphasize. Otherwise, the graveyard seemed slightly desolate of vampire life, including Angelus. 

"Man, we're getting nowhere, and I'm bored as hell," Faith complained, leaning against a tall monument, tilting her head from side to side as one would to get a twinge out of their neck. She stuck the sword in the ground that a few inches was buried and it stayed up right as she ran both hands through her hair. "So, Will, got anyone lined up for the spring dance?" Xander glowered as he received a playful wink in his direction. 'At least its painless, unlike those nudges,' he thought optimistically.

"Eh? Oh, what, no, I, um, no," William stammered out, blushing instantaneously, as if someone was sexually harassing him. Xander grinned. It was so easy to make the Brit blush.

"Hey, chill out, just asking," Faith said casually. "Xan and Tara's paired off and Gunn asked this girl out-"

"Eh?" both William and Xander said, tilting their heads simultaneously. 

"Oh, ya didn't know?" asked Faith with a smile that indicated she was fully aware that they didn't know. "Xander what know 'er, but Will, remember that chick that kept winning all those science awards for projects and stuff?"

"Willow or Fred?"

"Does it matter? Those to may as well be twins they spend so much time together."

William sighed. "Mousy brunette or pixie redhead?"

"Mousy redhead?" At William's Death Glare, Faith laughed. "Okay, okay, he asked out Willow. _Anyway_," pressed Faith, "the point that I was making was that now that Gunn's paired up with Willow, and Xan's paired with Tara, so, Will, you an' me, singlefied." 

"Hm?" asked William, looking from Xander to Faith, as they exchanged amused looks at the expense of the boy's oblivious antics.

"I think she's asking you out for the spring dance," Xander stage whispered. 

"She…um, I mean, you are?" asked William, looking at Faith with obvious surprise.

"Yup. So how 'bout it? You, me, tacky paper decorations, fruit punch?" asked Faith, smiling impishly. "Dancing cheek to cheek." Xander snorted and was kicked by William, who was blushing. Again.

"Um, yes, okay," said William, glaring at Xander before turning to Faith.

"It's a date," she said, sealing the deal.

"Gni."

"That's just so sweet." William and Xander turned to see Angelus walk around the corner of a nearby crypt, leaning against it casually, smiling. Faith stood properly, grabbed her sword and stood between the boys, who tensed. "So sweet I might actually make you live in time for this…" he waved his hand "…spring dance. Not because I want you to have a good time. But unlike some more crude vampires, I like to wait until the time is right to snap the necks of my victims." 

"Hm, thanks for the opportunity," Faith said sarcastically. "Now, if you'll just be nice and polite like that and just come over here so I can cut your head off, that'll make the night better."

Angelus smiled flattering at Faith, before focusing on Xander. "I'm surprised you lived after that attack," he said, "though those were some nice moves, I have to say. You two make a swell tag team." So he was watching them. Xander glared. "I'm sure your friend, Buffy, would be very proud." The blood in Xander's veins froze, and then heated again. 

"Don't talk about her," he ground out, feeling the hardness of the stake in his hand. Just one fatal plunge and this bastard would be dust.

"Yes, very proud," said Angelus, as if he hadn't heard what Xander said. "But let's not make assumptions. Shall we ask her?" 'That's it,' Xander thought, 'he's dead…er.' He started towards Angelus, stake poised, teeth gritted. As he closed the distance between the two, someone stepped out from behind the crypt Angelus was leaning on. It was then that everything started going in slow motion for Xander. The darkly clothed figure walked around Angelus and then in front of him. Xander froze as a delicate but strong hand wound itself around Xander's wrist. He stared into amused green eyes, and no sounds could come out of his mouth when he tried to speak.

Buffy Summers smiled sweetly. "Don't kill my Sire, please."

~~~

Da-da-da-DAAAAAAA! Bet you never saw that one coming! Well, ya probably did, actually – I'm not the subtlest girl around. Anyway, we can see a few pairings start to emerge here. If you didn't, bah, I'm not gonna tell ya. Anyhoozit. Chapter 4 will be up ASAP.


	4. Stranger Things Have Happened

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Title: Morbid Curiosity

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Author: DC – devils_symphony@hotmail.com

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Disclaimer: If I had created 'Buffy', I wouldn't be here. Don't own, don't sue. 'Cept the plot. No one can claim that but me.

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Author's Notes: Yo, all. Here's chapter four. You'll like. I hope. Gimme more feedback. *insatiable appetite*

---

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Stranger Things Have Happened…Not

---

"Oh…" Voice filled with disgust, the stake dropped to the soft grass, and Buffy let go of Xander's wrist. His own hand touched the place where she had grabbed him, and he recoiled back, sickened. "Oh God…"

"What's the matter? Miss me?" asked Buffy, feigning coyness. 

"Xan, what's going on?" asked Faith from somewhere behind him. Xander stepped back, unable to tear his eyes away at the parody of a human being in front of him. He had seen Buffy's corpse and he now he was seeing it again, only moving. This idea sickened beyond anything else. Some demon wearing a Buffy-suit was not his idea as a happy reunion. 

"Come on, we're leaving." William's voice was sharp, authoritative, and Xander glanced back at him. The Brit was holding up his crossbow, eyes cold and determined. 

"Are they leaving us already, Angelus?" asked Buffy, stepping back and smiling as Angelus didn't answer and wrapped his arms around her skinny waist that was emphasized through her mock black corset. Light blue jeans seemed painted onto her legs, heels on her boots digging into the ground. Xander shuddered as he took this creature in. To anyone else, she'd be attractive. But not after seeing her lying on the floor in the locker room. "Checking me out, Xan?" Her voice prodded him from his memories of that day, and he scowled at her, not an expression he wore often. "Do I look good to you?" She flicked her tongue out, wiping it quickly across her bottom lip, inviting.

Xander's mouth closed into a grim line, but he took a few steps forward to that he was only inches away from the vampire couple. Buffy batted her eyelashes and snickered as his lips almost brushed her hers. But that wasn't what he was going for. The distraction in place, Xander reached out and grabbed Angelus's wrist, felt for the ring before the vampire could draw and quickly yanked the silver band off his finger. "Hey!" the vampire cried in surprise, quickly drawing back from Buffy and Xander. The new Scooby member backpedaled a few steps, looking at Buffy coldly.

"No, you sicken me," he ground out, tossing the ring over his shoulder. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Faith catch it. Still looking at the parody of Buffy before him, he addressed the two behind him: "I think we have all we need. Let's go." William suddenly shot the crossbow, the arrow imbedding itself in Buffy's arm. She cried out, grabbing at it, vamping out. Any desperate hope that Xander had left that Buffy might still be Buffy, was quickly evaporating as those glassy yellow eyes fixed themselves on him. "That was a warning shot," said Xander, as if reading the Brit's mind. "Get out." 

Both looking annoyed, the two turned tail and ran, disappearing quickly into the forest. Silently, as there was nothing to say, the three headed out of the graveyard. 

---

The library was bathed in the yellowish glow that came from artificial light. It was a sight that Xander had never thought he'd ever see – a library after hours. Faith banged her way inside, the double doors swinging open as she walked through. William steadied the doors from swinging back and he and Xander followed her. "Yo, Ethan," called Faith, tossing her short sword onto the table. "We're home."

"Back so soon? I trust you brought what we needed," came Ethan's voice from some where upstairs. 

"Yeah, Harris filched us one of the vamp's rings," she said, pulling off her jacket.

"That'll be perfect." Ethan now appeared from behind the bookshelves, descending one of the sets of stairs and smiling. "Sounds like a successful patrol. Give us the ring." He held out a hand and Faith threw it. The Watcher caught it easily and put it into his pocket without looking at it. Xander, meanwhile, hung around the doors, preparing to leave. 

"Not completely successful," William said quietly, glancing at Xander, who glance back.

"Oh? How so?" asked Ethan absently, taking Faith's sword and walking over to William for the crossbow. He handed it over, gave another glance in Xander's direction and fell silent.

"A friend of mine, she's a…" Xander gave a long weary sigh. "She's a vamp."

"Buffy Summers," said Ethan without sympathy. He nodded. "Yes, as we discussed." This last statement was directed to William, who shifted his weight from one foot to the other.

"Discussed?" asked Xander, now looking at William. It was the Brit's turn to Not Look. "Wait, you figured Buffy might be one of those things? And you didn't tell me?" he held up his hands before William could answer. "No, wait, answer this one first: how'd you figure she'd do that?"

"I did a little bit of research when the attack made the papers," William said, with a touch of quiet humility. "One of the police files – Gunn and I hacked in – said that her mouth was bloodied, even though there was not cut or bruising around that area, so I thought that there'd be a chance she could come back. I remembered seeing your name as the one who had found her, which is why I confronted you your first day." His informative tone disappeared as he plunged into apologies. "I'm sorry I didn't share this theory with you, but the evidence wasn't concrete, and you may never have seen her again, and you might have gotten ideas that she'd still be herself, and think of reunions and other silly romances…" Xander shot him a withering glare. He withered. "Sorry."

"Okay," sighed Xander, glare taken off. "It's fine. It's fine. It's done, finished. I just want to…can we hurt Angelus really bad? Please? Now that I know who killed her and seeing her again like that…" The anger that he had felt towards the situation in the cemetery welled up. He had to leave. "Listen, I'll see you tomorrow."

"See ya Xan," said Faith, and both Ethan and William nodded their farewells. Xander nodded back and left the library, walking down the school halls in a daze towards the exit. Once he had gotten to the doors, he couldn't help it. Biting his bottom lip so he didn't bite his tongue off, he slammed the double doors behind him as hard as he could. He heard the faint echoes that would be a great deal louder in the halls. 'Fuck this,' he thought furiously, jogging lightly down the streets towards his own home, trying to burn off excess anger adrenaline. 'It's too much.'

---

"Who the hell invented this?" Xander, Gunn, Faith and Tara looked on in surprise when William's sudden growl erupted from the quiet that was the library. His eyes flickered towards them all, and he looked sheepish. "Er, sorry, but I stand by my point," he said, resting his fingers on his portion of the turned down deck of cards. Small portion.

"Just draw," sighed Faith, tilting her head back, before resting her eyes on the upturned cards in the centre. Looking as distrusting as anything, William quickly upturned a card and placed it on the upturned deck in the centre. Xander could see the boy relax – Queen of Hearts and nothing to do with the Eight of Clubs. 

"It's still a bloody stupid game," he mumbled at the amused looks he was receiving.

It had been a week and a few days since the discovery that Buffy Summers was a vampiress. The vampires since then had seemed to back off a bit, and patrolling had been desolate, or so the rest of the Scooby team had reported. Xander had taken a break from patrolling ever since that night, and no one complained. They had understood. Ethan hadn't yet said anything on doing a locator spell, and Xander just wished tha the crinkled evil British man would just hurry it up. He didn't like Ethan, but the other's seemed to, so he didn't say anything on the locator spell, or lack thereof. 

But the event that would take place to tonight would lay waste to any patrol. Ever.

Spring dance.

It was a nice spring day, but the Scoobies had taken to hanging around the library after school for a while before going straight home. It was like that they were all delaying the inevitable episode that would take place that night. Well, Xander was. He didn't know about the rest of them. So someone – either Faith or Tara – had taken out a pack of cards. Xander, Faith and Gunn knew Poker, but no one could be bothered explaining to William and Tara. Everyone knew Go Fish, but no one would dare admit that they knew it. So they had started playing Snap. Faith was winning – damn her Slayer skills – and Gunn was going well. Xander and William were losing horribly and Tara had already lost.

"So, Faith, what are you wearing to the dance?" asked Tara. Gunn, William and Xander all exchanged a three-way glance that said the same thing: 'spare us the girl talk.'

"Thought I might try out the whole 'wearing a dress' thing," Faith said, flipping down a card. Seven of Hearts and a Two of Clubs. No go. "Bought one a few days ago after patrol. Late night shopping. Got some cool shoes to go with it."

"What does it look like?" asked Tara with interest.

"Goes to my knees, low neckline, black. Shoes got heels on 'em. Damn hard to walk in."

"Did you get a little matching hand bag too?" mocked Xander as Gunn flipped down a card. Ace of Hearts and Three of Hearts. 

"Snap."

"Snap!"

"Snap!"

"Sn…bugger." 

Gunn grinned and took the large-ish stack of cards into his own deck.

"What was that, Harris?" asked Faith, tilting her head at him.

"I asked if you got a matching handbag," Xander said, ignoring her glare at his teasing.

"Maybe a nice scarf and a few other fashion accessories?" William chimed in.

"Try'na fit in, now are we?" added Gunn innocently. All three boys got whapped, one way or another. "Damn, that hurt." 

"Well come on, you two sounded like you were in the running for the Cordettes," William said, scowling at Faith who had socked him in the arm. 

"Cordelia would never wear black," Tara corrected. "And just because we're not talking about fighting and spells and other supernatural horrors, doesn't mean that we're acting like the Cordettes." The three male Scoobies mumbled their apologies, smirked at each other and the game continued for a while, the pack growing steadily higher and higher. Then, Xander flipped a card. Five of Clubs and Jack of Clubs. No one saw it coming.

"Gah, er-"

"Snap!"

"Snap!"

"Gah! Mine! My card!" Xander complained loudly.

"Yay, finally, I got it," said William, and the he winced. "Faith, I think you just broke every single bone in my hand." Faith gave him a grin that would put the Cheshire Cat out of business and withdrew her hand. William smirked triumphantly and added it to his now thick deck. "Ha, lookit, I'm winning now." It took another ten minutes for the game to come to a conclusion. William was now Public Enemy Number One after his surprise come back and win. "Yes, well, all fear me and my Snap playing skills," he had said when three eyes burned holes through his head.

"Maybe we should go," Tara said, giggling a little at the level of immaturity that the group could maintain, even under extreme Snap circumstances. "Get ready and stuff."

"Ah, right, the dance," said Gunn, looking awkward. Xander smirked at him. Out of all of them, Gunn had been the most reluctant about the social mixer. Xander had never seen his date – Willow Rosenberg – before, but William and Faith had shown him the Computing awards she had won for the school, a bench below the football trophies. Next to her little plaque was a Science award, won by Winifred McDonald, sister to Lindsey McDonald, who had been upped a couple of years and had graduated two years younger than the rest of his class. He and his family were apparently living legends of the literate. This information had gone through on ear and out the other for Xander.

So, with this sort of thing surrounding Gunn's date, the African-American had been more than a little nervous. Gunn was fighting vampires personified, setting aside the Slayer. But now he had one limb out in unknown territory – normality. Especially since this limb was the one known as 'the dating game'. What was he going to talk about to Willow other than vampires? Xander couldn't wait to see how this would go. He wished his friend all the best, but Xander was preparing to watch and chuckle from afar. 

After a few 'goodbye's and 'see you later's and one 'pick you up at six', the Scooby Gang departed, and Xander found himself walking home, alone, as usual. William usually got a parent to pick him up, or he biked home, and Gunn, Faith and Tara all took the bus. He couldn't help but feel a little bit of nervous excitement – this was a first date, even if he was only going to the spring dance with Tara as a friend – as he neared his house. Only a few hours to go until his mother was driving him to Tara's place and then to school. Xander winced a little as this thought floated through his head – classy way to take out a girl, get your mom to drive you. But he didn't picture arriving there on his bike and telling Tara that she'd have to ride on the handlebars. Though Xander knew that the amateur witch probably wouldn't mind and she might actually find it fun, it wasn't a very dignified way to get to a school dance. 

'Because your mom's car is so dignified,' he thought, mentally rolling his eyes as he stepped up to the front door of his home. Unlocking it, he walked in. His father was working late, and his mother was at home, as per usual. She walked daylight hours but got off before the bell rang at Sunnydale High.

"Hi honey," came Jessica Harris's voice. "How was school?" he walked into the hall holding an armful of dirty laundry. 

"Average," Xander said, glancing around as he walked passed her. In the lounge room, more than a few beer bottles littered the ground near the couch. He ignored this as he walked towards where his room was.

"Remember to finish unpacking properly, Xander," called his mom, who had gone back towards the laundry.

"Yeah."

"And you should phone Jesse. He's probably worried about you."

"Sure."

"And isn't tonight that dance thing you told me about?" 

Xander paused and turned around, amazed. When there was no answer, Jessica popped her head around the corner, looking at him questioningly. Her reddish hair was swept up in a high ponytail, giving her a girlish look. "Um, yeah, you remembered?" Xander asked in mild surprise.

"Of course, I'm the one who has to drive you,' she said, disappearing again. "What's her name? Tina Mc-something?"

"Tara McClay."

"Pretty name. Well, get ready. Remember to shower."

Still amazed at the fact his mother had remembered such a detail, Xander nodded, as if that was any sort of good answer to someone not in the same room, and he turned, heading back towards his room.

---

Tara was pretty. Xander had always known this since he had met her, of course but…she was really, really pretty. Xander couldn't stop thinking this since he had picked her up at her own stereotypical suburban home, and now they were walking into the school gym together and he was still thinking it. Tara was damn friggin' pretty. Her strawberry blonde hair was swept up gracefully into to a coral pink alligator clip, with two locks framing her face. Her makeup was perfectly applied and made to match her silky textured light pink halter-top, which was patterned with feathers of the same colour. She wore a long denim skirt with a split that went to a few inches below her hip, and delicate pink strappy sandals made her seem taller. 

"You keep staring at me," she chuckled. "Do I look weird?"

"Nah, not weird," Xander said as he held the door open for her. He felt unkempt next to her, even in his charcoal coloured trousers, white shirt and black denim jacket, his hair brushed to within an inch of its life. "Definitely not weird."

"Oh hey, there's Gunn and Willow!" said Tara, absently grabbing Xander's hand to drag him over.

"Gah," he said lightly at the contact, and let himself be dragged. Gunn was wearing something that didn't involve five layers of clothing – black jeans and a dark blue shirt. Next to him was acute, pixie-like girl who Xander assumed to be Willow Rosenberg. She had long red hair and a widow's peak. She smiled widely when she saw Tara and Xander, and waved. Her ensemble of clothing was…colourful. She wore something similar to one of Tara's peasant tops, only it looked like it had been tie dyed with about ten different colours. Her black skirt was the only thing of one colour. 

"Hey! This is fun! I'm having fun. Aren't you? Isn't this fun?" Willow babbled excitedly. Xander glanced at Gunn to see his reaction to the chatter, and the so-called intimidating student had a look on his face that was nothing short of adoration. The immature side of Xander made gagging noises. The rest of him thought it was so sweet that he was inclined to mimic said gagging noises. 

"I'm having fun," Tara said in agreement, smiling. "Willow, this is Xander."

"Hey! I'm Willow, as you could probably tell by Tara's introduction," said the redhead, shaking Xander's hand.

"Gunn, what did you feed her?" asked Tara, smiling at the excited Willow.

"Nothing," Gunn said absently, seemingly unable to tear his eyes away from the girl. 'If only the vampires of Sunnydale could see you now,' thought Xander, smiling.

"Lemme just say, if you wanna pick up girl's in the future, handlebar riding ain't a good idea, especially if they're skimpy like me," came a voice. Xander and Tara turned to see William escorting a slightly wind torn Faith over. 

"Listen, my parents were out – again – and you said yourself, this afternoon, that those shoes were hard to walk in," argued William, nodding at everyone else in greeting. "And don't tell me it wasn't fun." Faith started to speak, but then she grinned, running a hand through her hair.

"Yeah, okay, I'll give ya that one," she said. Xander barely heard her, He was busy trying to decide whether it was legal to have a neckline so low, or perhaps there was an age limit. The black dress ended at her knees, displaying well tone, long legs, shown off even more by the strappy black sandals she wore. He snapped out of it and looked at William with a lopsided grin.

"You biked over here?"

"Well, yeah," he responded, sheepish. "No other option. Parents are at some sort of cocktail party with my father's work mates, so I hadn't much of a choice. But hey, at least I got to sneak out of the house wearing something not pastel." Xander blinked and surveyed what the Brit was wearing. Black jeans that seemed plastered on; Doc Martins; a burgundy coloured shirt and a black denim jacket over the top. Was there something wrong in thinking that another guy looked – there HAD to be a better word – edible? Probably. But Xander didn't concentrate on that so much. 

"How'd you get here, Xander?" asked Gunn, snapping out of his Willow-induced trance.

"Mom drove," he answered, snapping out of his William-induced trance. "It may not be celebrity treatment, but it's not a bad car."

"Yeah, got my brother's girlfriend to drive," Gunn said.

"So you all managed to come here in the most geekiest way possible," said Faith, nodding. "Well done."

"Oh I dunno, Gunn's brother's girlfriend isn't exactly geeky," said Willow perkily. Gunn smiled widely as if the compliment was directed at him, and he absently put a hand on the small of the redhead's back, who blushed a little at the contact. Suddenly, Xander became aware of his surroundings.

The gym had been decorated within an inch of its life. The once manly home of basketball was now covered in pink and yellow paper flowers and big sheets of – more – pink. There was a long table at the side of it, which held bite-sized morsels of food and a few big bowls of the inevitable punch. Here and there were banners saying SPRING DANCE, in case everyone forgot what they were doing here. The music was quite loud, so their conversation had been held with slightly raised voices. Students from their grade milled around the centre, dancing half-heartedly as one does at the beginning of the dance (eventually escalating to pole dancing and discreet strip tease) or just standing in big groups and chatting. 

"Doesn't the place look groovy?" Willow asked as their own chatting group paused to take it all in. "I was Assistant of Decoration Design. Doesn't that sound official? Like there should be capital letters at the front of it and stuff."

"Very groovy," said Gunn, in the voice of someone willing to agree with anything that their crush says, just to make said crush happy. "Wanna get some water-diluted punch?"

"Yup!" Without so much as a 'goodbye' or a 'can I get anyone anything?' they were gone, weaving their way through the crowds, Gunn creating a suitable path that Willow happily took.

"Innit so cute you wanna throw up?" asked Faith.

"Very," agreed Xander. 

"Has Gunn ever been so smitten with anyone?" asked William, raising an eyebrow. "And looked it?" he added on afterthought.

"Maybe, but I don't anyone's told the tale and lived," Tara said. The four exchanged slightly worried glances. "Nah, we're the exceptions." 

"We hope," Xander added. 

"Man, this place better liven up soon or I'm living," Faith said, yawning. At that moment, the smell of too much perfume closed in, and everyone looked to the left to see Cordelia, followed by her faith Cordettes, walk passed.

"Hey, you know, I didn't actually think that this was a Halloween dance," she said, giving them all a disdainful look. She paused in front of Tara, looking her up and down. "Trying to fit in, much?" Tara's pink-tinted lips set in a thin line, as she blushed, looking away. Xander felt his own jaw tick. Cordelia's gaze settled on Faith, who was giving her a 'I – fucking – DARE – you' look. "Nice skin. Where's the dress, Über Slut?" 

"You so have a death wish," ground out Faith, taking a step towards the cheerleader. The Cordettes snickered, looking as haughty as ever, and 90% more slutty than Faith. 

"Don't like the truth, freak?" asked Cordelia.

"Leave us alone, Cordelia," sighed William in a weary voice. "Don't you have some footballers to climb?"

"Hey, geek, I wasn't talking to you," Cordelia said airily. "I don't even look at you. Who would?" 'Me,' thought Xander, only just refraining form saying it. William rolled his eyes but didn't say anything in reply. Cordelia smirked at him. "Yeah, silence is a virtue, English," she said. 

"Not one that you possess, obviously," he said, too quietly for her to hear.

"Okay, let's move away from this circus." The Cordettes tittered, and Xander received a couple of appraisingly cynical looks from the one named Harmony and few other's who could have been her clones. Xander shuddered theatrically when they had walked away.

"Worse than vampires," he stated. 

"At least vampires don't insult you why they're trying to tear your throat out," William said with a sigh. "And we're allowed to kill vamps. There's a law against killing the Cordettes, I think."

"There has to be a loophole," said Faith, before grabbing William's arm. "You, me, dancing, now. Before I murder someone." William gave Xander a comically helpless look as he was drug off. Xander laughed, but soon, he was holding Tara by the waist, her hands resting on his shoulders, as they danced a few feet away from where Gunn and Willow were talking quietly, with matching silly grins plastered on their faces. 

"So that's the terrifying vampire hunter I got to know and love?" asked Xander, looking at them critically. Tara giggled.

"Totally scary. Vampires shake in their boots."

"As scary as a kitten. A kitten in the arms of a little redhead girl," Xander said, looking back at Tara. Her heeled sandals gave her an extra inch in height, so she was eye level with him. The rather upbeat song changed to a slower number. Over Tara's shoulder, he saw William and Faith dancing at a respectable distance. Gunn could have fit in between them. As this rather amusing visual passed through Xander's head, he felt Tara nervously move closer to him, and his heart skipped a beat. Was it possible that the strawberry blonde had a crush on him? Scary. He'd never been crushed upon before. Even scarier that it was Tara – earthy motherly older-sister-figure of the group. She was a great friend and possibly someone to confide in, but when she was wearing a bare-backed halter-top that showed off curves a motherly older-sister-figure shouldn't have…definitely scary. Xander gulped, and tried to do so quietly. He felt like she was so close that she could hear the blood rushing through his brain as he thought stuff. She stepped forward and back once, in time to the music, and Xander tried not to twitch as her thigh connected with his in that one movement. 

"Er…hey, wanna get some punch?" he asked with a nervous grin.

"I'm n-not that thirsty," Tara stammered, and, blushing as she did so, she wrapped her arms around his neck fully, instead of the lightweight of her hands on his shoulders. Gulp. 

"Okay," sighed Xander, stepping back, heart fluttering as Tara awkwardly stepped forward to match him. "I like you and ev-" He was cut off as she suddenly brushed her lips lightly against his, chaste and quick, as if accidental. She was now blushing furiously, looking at him with eyes waiting for approval, or, as far as the girl's ego went, looking for rejection. Wow. A kiss. From Tara. 'The poor girl must be reeling inside,' he thought absently. 'God knows I am, and I'm not the one doing the stealing of kisses, here.' "I like you and everything? But…"

"Oh goddess," she murmured, and Xander felt a pang of guilt.

"No, wait, listen-"

"No, don't worry," she gave him a weak smile as she backed up a step, hands falling to her sides, "I understand." 

"Wait, I don't think you do-"

"I think I'll go," she said, head bowed. She turned on her heels and made fast time towards the door. Swearing under his breath, Xander went to follow her, determine to make it right. In doing so, he almost plowed into William and Faith, who had been heading over to the food table. 

"Woah, what's the rush Harris?" asked Faith.

"Tara is, I need to-" he started…just as the music was cut and the lights went out. "Gah, black out." He looked around. Pitch black, as the windows had been covered in dark pink material for extra decoration. He reached out with both hands and accidentally hit Faith in the eye. The other hand clasped William's shoulder – he hoped it was, anyway. Denim-y – good sign. "Sorry Faith," he said. Shrieks rose from the crowd and fits of giggles happened around them as well.

"Can't see a bloody thing," murmured William, grabbing onto Xander's arm for security.

"Where's Tara?" asked the Slayer from somewhere beside Xander.

"She started towards the exit."

"I better get her. You two stay here." With that, Faith walked away – or at least, the staccato noises her heels made indicated so.

"Bloody hell, gotta love Sunnydale High. Something just has to go wrong," William said. 

"Yeah, it's k-" before Xander could finish his sentence, he was pushed forward by some jerk running around in the dark. "Jerk off!" he yelled over his shoulder, hand still on William's shoulder. "Sorry, some guy pushed me."

"N-no problem," came William's stammer, and Xander almost jumped when the Brit's voice was right next to his ear. Xander turned his head slightly, forehead connecting gently with William's temple. He heard the other student breathe in sharply. Xander felt a rush of adrenaline. Sensibility gone and feeling the need to do the spontaneous at such a discreet moment (and feeling the opportunity of a blackout and this closeness would never arise again), Xander angled his head a little and placed a very gentle kiss on William's lips. It was something he had wanted to do ever since he had seen the boy walk in with Faith. He had never told himself, though, so Xander felt as surprised at his actions as William must be. Xander was about to pull away when the grip on his arm increased its pressure, so he lingered. The fact that William lingered too helped. 

The kiss was broken, and Xander wasn't sure who broke it. Gulping ('what the hell could I lose now?') he started to go back in for another kiss, when he felt the tepid softness of William's lips against his again. Heart pounding, he moved closer to the Brit, putting a hand on the boy's waist, under his jacket. He felt a light and hesitant hand place itself on the base of Xander's neck, slender fingers spread apart. Xander was just starting to calm down, when he felt William tilted his head, open his mouth slightly. Hesitant (but not too hesitant at all, really) Xander opened his own mouth, cautiously sweeping his tongue across William's, which had flicked out as well. 'My god…' Xander thought. 'Ya think ya know a guy…' And that was the last of his thoughts for a while. The kiss was chaste, despite the occasional tongue play, but soon the mouths were closed and just pressed together. Xander's first real kiss, not stolen, and it was fucking sensation.

The moment seem to last forever, until someone bustled passed them blindly, causing both to detached and stumble. "Oh wow," murmured Xander. Suddenly, the lights came back on, and he realized he was a foot away from a very flustered William, who was now blushing furiously. The music came back on and around them, the students cheered, and dancing commenced. They locked eyes, both unable to say anything, as if there was nothing to say, despite a million and one words going through their minds.

Suddenly, Faith was there, looking worried. "Hey Xander, you're needed in the hall for repair," she said, hands on her hips. William took the opportunity to disappear into the crowds. Xander so wanted to go after him, but Faith's words caught him first.

"Who shot Johnny in the what-now?" 

"Tara. Upset. Fix, mend." Faith said, getting behind him and pushing him the right direction. "She's kinda teary." Pang, went the guilt. 'Damn,' went the Xander. Sighing, he trudged through the dancing crowds (including discreet strip tease) and towards the exit. He opened the doors and turned right to see Tara pacing amongst the lockers, dabbing at red eyes with a handful of tissues. 

"Oh man, I'm sorry," he said before thinking, walking over. She gasped when she saw him, turning away.

"Faith s-s-said she wouldn't…she promised not to bring you-"

"But I should be brung," he said, unaware of the bad grammar. He stopped behind her and put a gentle hand on her shoulder. "Tara, I'm sorry. You'd make a great-" gah "-girl friend. It's just-"

"It's fine," she said, voice thickened from past tears. 

"No, you're upset and I'm willing to take total responsibility for ruining a great night," Xander said firmly. When she didn't turn around, he stepped in front of her. She bowed her head so he couldn't see the red rim around her eyes. "Wish I could take back my reaction, but I can't."

"It's m-my fault," she stammered, "we agreed to go as friends."

"It's not your fault if you…liked me as…a not-friend," Xander said, stumbling over word choice. "It's just I rather you as a friend. Things would get weird and awkward if we took it any further." 'This ain't helping, you dork,' he thought. 'Shut up brain. I'm trying.' "I didn't practice this," he said apologetically, arms spread wide. He gave her a lopsided grin, trying to lighten the mood. "Listen, there's some guy out there who'd think you're swell, and I'd just be standing in his way. Some guy you'd like much better than me, okay? I can offer you more as a friend than I could as a boyfriend, trust me on this one." Tara gave him a weak smile, moving strands of blonde hair behind her ears. "Now, just mentally fix up my grammar and replace 'swell' with 'great', and we're peachy." She giggled, raising a hand to her mouth. "By the way, you look hot tonight."

"Thanks," she said, as he started guiding her towards the doors. "You know how to let a girl down without smashing her self-esteem too much."

"Again, I'm sorry, I should've-"

"It's fine," she said, genuine on the statement this time. She put an awkward arm around his, kissing him lightly on the cheek in a completely sisterly way. "You're gonna make some girl really happy one day, Xander Harris."

'Some girl,' he thought, heart skipping at memory of William's lips against his, 'right.'

---

Xander roamed the nibbles table, empty cup in hand as he contemplated risking a shot of sickly sweet pink punch. He grabbed a corn chip out of a bowel and wolfed it down happily. He hadn't seen William since that blackout kiss, and was secretly grateful. The night had been awkward enough without explaining his actions. It all seemed like a distant memory. Had William even kissed him back? Had Xander just accidentally brushed lips? Probably not, on both questions. It was William, after all. Why the hell would he go back in for more?

And there was no way the kiss had been accidental. The ghost of his adrenaline was still lingering somewhere in his gut. Time to drown in it in sickly sweet pink punch. He sauntered over to the bowl, about to grab the ladle when the lights, for the second time that night, flickered out, the music cutting out shortly. There were mixed groans and whoops form the student body. Sighing, Xander put down the cup. "Take it as a sign," he said allowed, turning towards where the faint lines of the exit were when the silhouettes of students didn't obscure the sight. Using that as an aim, he started towards it, apologizing to those he bumped into as he went. "'Scuse me, hard to see here, whoop, gah, sorry again. Dude, you're tall." He finally got to the doors, and he pushed them open gratefully, almost plowing into someone on the other side. "Man, I'm just…oh, hey Gunn."

The hall was a little better lit than the gym, seeing as though the hallway didn't have heavy pink material blocking the windows. Gunn smiled at Xander. "Yo. Man, this whole blackout thing's getting old. If it was Halloween, it'd be understandable, but this is just annoying." Xander looked up and down. They were alone, but the shadows covered up odd corners and curves. Silvery light from the outside world bounced off lockers, but it wasn't as good as its normal florescence that they got for artificial lighting.

At that moment, someone else opened the door, and both Tara and Faith emerged. "Hey," said Faith, closing the doors behind them. "This is getting wiggy."

"Very wiggy, hairy, even," said Xander. No one hit him for his lame joke. 'Yay.' 

"Anyone seen Will? Haven't done so since just after the last blackout," said Faith. "Caught him near the exit, and he said he was gonna get fresh air. He's not out here, is he?"

"Nope, the place is William-less," Xander said, the little worm of worry crawling its way through his stomach.

"Well, we better look for him, in case this whole blackout thing isn't totally coincidental," Tara said. The four nodded resolutely, and started down the hallway, towards the exit. They all stopped short as the doors banged open, a familiar broad shouldered figure walking in, looking behind his shoulder.

"The Slayer and Co. should be in the gym. We massacre while its dark, kill the Slayer in the process, okay? He's just a back-up plan if…" Angelus trailed off when he saw the four standing there, all jaws hanging open. "We happen across her before hand," he finished, smirking. He opened the doors wider to see Buffy walk in, dragging William behind her, glasses missing and a long stream of blood going down the left side of his face, started at his eyebrow. The vampiress grinned and held William close to her, a dagger at his throat. 

"Get off me," he growled, but his hands seemed bound behind his back, from what Xander could see or not see from his point of view. 

"I will when you're dead," said Buffy, not taking her eyes off Xander. Her face was contorted into that of the demon inside of her, a hideous reminder of how not Buffy she was. 

"I was hoping for a student massacre…ah well," said Angelus, waving his hands, dismissive. "Now, here's the deal. This one," he indicated William, "may live if the Slayer lets herself be handcuffed and she come with us. You're little friends will be spared. If not, then he's the first to go and everyone in this building dies. Everyone but us, of course."

"What, you and blondie gonna take the school?" asked Faith skeptically. 

"What, just us?" asked Angelus. "Nah. Come in, boys." Xander's throat became a desolate wasteland when he saw about ten or more vampires walk in, each one with their game face. 

"Maybe you shouldn't have asked," he whispered in Faith's direction. 

"So, what's it gonna be Slayer? Everyone and you or just you?" asked Angelus, he, Buffy and William approaching them slowly. "Do the right think, Faith. Aren't Slayers natural born martyrs?"

"Nah, we're natural born fighters," she growled. "Let's do this properly. Let the boy go and we'll battle it out."

"Hm…now, that's up to Buffy, here," Angelus said, looking at his companion. 

"Oh, but he tastes nice," Buffy said, her voice simpering. She put the tip of the bloodied blade up to her tongue, licking off a few of the crimson droplets. She pocketed the blade and pulled back William's shirt collar. The Brit stared at the ground, becoming number one contender for a living statue. "Ooh, he's been tasted before," Buffy said, fingering his light scars. She wrinkled her nose. "I hate leftovers." With that, she grabbed the back of his jacket and arms, and threw him towards the Scoobies. He landed with a hard smack on the ground on his stomach; a low moan of pain escaping passed his lips. Xander and Tara rushed forward with words of sympathy and promises of 'it'll be fine'. Xander went to undo whatever bonds were holding William's hands together, and cursed under his breath when he saw the metal handcuffs.

Buffy giggled, taking out William's glasses from her pocket, breaking them in two and throwing them over, the pieces landed with a small and sad 'ting' sound. "Lucky I've got two pairs," the Brit muttered when he heard the noise. Tara and Xander glanced at each other with sympathy for him, before helping William to his feet. Xander absent mindly brushed a lock of reddish-brown hair from William's eyes. He didn't notice his actions until William quickly leant his head away, blue eyes studying anywhere not Xander. 

"So, Slayer, are we gonna do this, or what?" asked Angelus, obviously impatient. 

"Here's the deal," Faith said, clapping her hands and rubbing them together as she took a few steps forward. "You manage to kill us? You can eat all them," she indicated the closed gym doors. "We kick your asses, you get outta here if you can still walk. Got it?"

"I think I've grasped the concept," Angelus said dryly.

"Good." Suddenly, Faith turned and ran. Glancing at each other, Gunn, Xander, William and Tara followed after her, Tara and Xander helping William along. "Library, get there," the Slayer said, slowing down so that she was at the same pace as everyone else. "I'll keep these guys at bay. GO!" Gunn sped up and Xander found that he yanked William and Tara along harder. Faith fell away from the group, and they skidded around a corner towards where the library was. Gunn banged opened the pliant library doors once they had gotten there, all four stumbling in. Gunn lead the way towards a cage that apparently was home to rare, magick books…as well as weapons. He grabbed an axe, gave Xander and Tara a 'help yourselves' indication, before walking over to William. Xander hesitated, watching.

"Will, you trust me?" asked Gunn, holding the axe in both hands.

"Do I have to?" he answered dryly.

"Uh, yeah."

"Then yes, I do."

"Great. Turn around, hold out your hands and pray real hard." Xander and Tara glanced at each other, questioning Gunn's sanity. William gave him a reluctant look before obediently turning, hesitating before reaching out his arms behind him as far as possible. Gunn hesitated as well, before raising the axe high in the air and bringing it down with a lot of speed. There was a sharp 'TWANG' and William and Gunn's cry of surprise when the Brit turned around, holding up his hands, which were freed. "Wow. It worked!" cried Gunn, both he and William exchanging happy grins.

"You would not believe how grateful I am to see my hands," he said, before glaring disdainfully at the cuffs that remained. "That may be problematic." William then glared at the doors. "Bitch broke my glasses." He paused and looked at Xander, who was now holding a stake, a double-headed axe and a crossbow. "That was tactless. Sorry."

"Nah, it was righteous," Xander replied, tossing him the crossbow. He didn't mentioned that he was a little shocked at William's vocabulary after saying a sentence that involved 'problematic' whilst keeping a straight face. Suddenly, Faith burst in. Everyone twitched his or her weapons before relaxing. The Slayer gave a nod of acknowledgment before walking over to the weapons cage and grabbing a short sword. 

"Bastards are on their way, get ready for some action," she said, positioning herself in front of the doors. "Man, I knew I shouldn't have worn a friggin' dress tonight." There was a pause, and then distant yells from down the hallways floated towards the library. "Here we go." A vampire, in demon guise, kicked open the doors, saw Faith and started over. Suddenly, he was dust. William smiled with a touch of evilness as he started to reload his crossbow. 

"_And_ without my glasses. Take that, pillock," he muttered. Xander stared at him with wide eyes. In dark clothes, broken handcuffs around his wrists, a wicked cool weapons in his hands that he was handling with expert ease, no glasses, a small smirk and a dramatic trickle of blood down his face. He looked dangerous and entirely edible. Xander shifted his weight from foot to the other, gulping as he turned back to the doors. Five vampires at once entered through, kicking down Faith. 

'Now is so not the time to think William-thoughts,' Xander thought, before stepping into the fray. 'Maybe later, though.' He glanced over at William, who shot another arrow deftly, dusting a vampire.

'Definitely later.'

~~~

Woohoo, slash! If you're surprised to find not much 'woe is me and my being gay!' from Xander or William in this chapter and future chapters, than that's because I find the whole thing silly. If you discover you're gay or bisexual, you're surprised, not disgusted. Generally, anyway. In my world, certainly. Perhaps. ANYway. The point is that I don't wanna bore people to death with it. This got slashy earlier than I expected, and I don't wanna stop now!

Oh, and someone emailed my about future plans with this story. I'll tell you what I told her: they'll be university years to come, more cameos and a lot more of…everything. Action, violence…oh yeah, and then there's the NC-17 scenes. But I won't be able to go into much detail here. *scowls at FF.Net* I'll post this on a future web site and then people can see the unedited NC-17 versions…once I write them. Yeah, that covers it. :) Hope you enjoyed this and will post again ASAP. I'm SO enjoying writing this.


	5. Delightful Oxymoron

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Title: Morbid Curiosity

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Chapter: Delightful Oxymoron

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Author: DC – devils_symphony@hotmail.com

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Disclaimer: If I had created 'Buffy', I wouldn't be here. Don't own, don't sue. 'Cept the plot. No one can claim that but me.

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Author's Notes: Hey-hey-hey! Here we have chapter 5. Hope we all enjoyed the slashiness last chapter. Here we have more slashiness. And I meant what Is aid about being against underage sex, so don't get excited. *innocence*

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Delightful Oxymoron

---

As far as Xander knew, everyone in the gym was safe. The vampires he had seen grace the hall with their presence earlier were now all making their way into the library, snarling, yellow eyes eyeing everyone with hunger. Two weeks ago, Xander would have been certain that death was upon the small band of warriors. But two were already dead at the hands of an unlikely warrior – William Wyther – and Faith was making fast time with the death of another, and Xander was confident that they'd win this little scuffle. Gritting his teeth, Xander locked eyes with two of them that were approaching, each one smirking cockily at the little teenage boy with his cute axe. Xander was pretty sure that they thought this, at least. It was a wicked axe, double-headed, black handle, pointy and generally evil looking. 

Suddenly, one of them lunged, obviously bored with slow motion confrontations. Acting on the instinct of survival, Xander jumped back, but as he did so, he swung the axe and the blade caught the vampire in the shoulder. The demon made an animalistic snarl of pain, which intensified as Xander yanked the medieval weapon out. Not hesitating, Xander swung it again, this time burying the blade in the vampire's neck. The snarl was cut off and the demon's eyes went wide. His partner, the other vampire, watched this with sick fascination, licking his fangs absently as a scarlet tide started down the vampire's front. Xander yanked the head of the axe out again, annoyed that it hadn't been a clean decapitation. No need to be annoyed, though. Making a strange gurgling sound along with a pained wail, the vampire fell to his knees, hands shaking as he felt the wound that had almost severed his head from his neck. Taking another swing and putting mores strength behind it, the head now fell away. It hit the ground and both it and the body exploded into dust.

Xander gulped and looked at the other vampire who was smiling widely, a truly horrifying thing to see when the one smiling had a mouth full of oversized fangs. "Dude, that was kinda awesome," the vampire said with obvious admiration. Xander frowned. Did vampires normally talk like they were on the Sunnydale football team? 

"Um, yeah," he said with uncertainty. Around him, the battle raged. 

"But you know that I have to take the axe of you now, y'know?"

"No."

The vampire gave him another grin before leaping forward with unnatural speed, making a grab for the handle of the axe. Xander gave a startled yell but hung on, yanking it back. The vampire was too busy trying to wrestle the axe away to notice Xander pull out a wooden stake. Though the vamp did notice when the piece of wood was shoved into his chest. "Aw, dude, not cool," the vampire groaned before becoming a cloud of dust. 

"Surreal," muttered Xander, shaking his head. Suddenly, he felt two very strong hands on his neck from behind and a growl right next to his ear. Xander yelled out in fear and surprise, trying to twist around to break free, but he was shoved to his knees, axe and stake landing with a clatter. He turned, falling on to his butt as he did so, but he aimed a kick at the vampire's jaw. It didn't work. The buff vampire grabbed his ankle, and started bear down on him. Xander shielded his face with his arms instinctively and…waited. There was a screech and Xander lowered his arms to see the explosion of dust. He coughed as some of the ash entered his throat, but he smiled gratefully to see Tara there, holding a stake. "I am so glad to see you instead of Mr. Ugly just now. Thanks."

"No problem," the amateur Wicca said, helping him to his feet. She turned and started to run towards Faith, who was being attacked by three vampires. Xander started over, until a crossbow went flying passed his nose. He turned his head sharply in the opposite direction of its flight to see two vampires circling a now crossbow-less William, who's hands were clenched in fists at his sides as he glared at them.

Picking up his stake and axe, Xander wandered over, behind one of the vampires and got ready to plunge the stake into the demon's heart from behind. But suddenly, at the signal of his fighting partner, the vampire turned and grabbed Xander's wrist with a snarl. Panicking slightly from the sudden movement, Xander gave a short and weak swing with the axe, burying it about half an inch in the vampire's side, who yelled in pain. Suddenly, the world went white as Xander was given a stinging head-butt. He stumbled back, his vision clearing to see William grab the vampire by the back of the demon's jacket and push him into the library's counter. 

The other vampire leapt over, grabbing William's arm, looking about ready to break it. Spontaneous and without a real clue of what the hell to do, Xander rushed forward and took down the vampire via football tackle. He succeeded. The demon let go of William's arm as he went crashing down with Xander with a loud 'oof!' Almost without thinking. Xander's stake descended into the vampire's chest, ripping through skin and muscle. The outcome was becoming familiar. Xander, who had been pinning the vampire down, landed on the ground as the vampire turned into an eruption of ash, coughing again. He turned just into to see William pick up Xander fallen axe and decapitate the other vampire. Xander stood up shakily, looking at William as the Brit turned to him, eyes locking. Before Xander could say anything, William turned away to help Gunn with a rather fast vampire. 

Sighing, Xander looked around to see if he was being attacked. He saw a vampire give Tara a very painful-looking backhanded hit, the girl crying out and falling to the floor. Xander didn't need to be a hero, as Faith started pummeling the vampire. By the time Xander had rushed over, crouching beside Tara, the vampire was dust, as were many others. "Are you okay?" he asked.

"Fine," said Tara as Xander helped to her feet. "That's gonna bruise, though." She gave him a half-hearted smile, before looking over his shoulder and yelling: "Faith!" Xander turned to see Angelus bearing down the dark Slayer, landing a hard kick on her chest. Xander swore he could here bones cracking and he winced at the horrible sound. Faith went crashing down, knocking over the circular table they had done their homework on so many times. Xander started over but stopped as both Slayer and master vampire started battling it out in the same untouchable way as displayed in the graveyard. 

And then there was Buffy. She stood in the doorway of the library, holding that dagger she had used to threaten the death of William with. She surveyed the makeshift battlefield with a look of disgust and disappointment. The vampires were losing in this particular battle. And then, she looked at Xander, and for a brief moment, their eyes locked. Xander looked for any ounce of humanity left in her, anything, a flicker, even, would do. But no, nothing. Just calculating coldness, like staring into the heart of an impending storm. And then, Buffy turned and fled down the hall. Thinking of the students in the gym, Xander started after her, and then stopped. She had gone in the direction of the exit, not the gym.

Xander let her go. Not out of hope that his friend still inhabited that body. But she wasn't a priority. Angelus was backing off fast, bleeding from his bottom lip, his nose, from a gash under his right eye and a large crimson stain had spread over his shirt. Xander looked around the library as Angelus did the same. All of the vampires were dust. Gunn and William walked over; both looking bruised and battered. Tara stood behind Xander and Faith stood squarely in front of Angelus. 

"This isn't finished, Slayer," Angelus said darkly, edging towards the doors. 

"Nah, it ain't finished 'cause you're still walking," Faith said, but before she could follow through with her threat, Angelus had fled as well. Silence descended upon the library, and the Scoobies formed a circle. Faith dropped her short sword with a clatter as she ran a hand through the tangles of her hair. "Some spring dance," she murmured, and everyone sort of nodded in bitter agreement. 

"Do we have any first aid kits around here?" asked Xander.

"Yeah, just behind Ethan's desk," Faith answered. Nodding, Xander crossed the circle and walked behind the desk. The white metal box made a 'clank' sound as Xander placed it on the desk, opening it. "I'll stop off at a doctor's clinic I sometimes stop by," Faith said when Xander asked her if she needed anything.

"Fine. Will," said Xander, gesturing him over. 

"No, I-"

"No, he's right, you're bleeding everywhere," Tara said. She walked over to where Xander stood, and, with great reluctance, so did William. Gunn and Faith started talking, which looked like it consisted of Gunn insisting something and Faith refusing. With a motherly but practical-nurse touch, Tara tilted William head to look at the cut just above his left eye. The line of red that had trickle from that to his chin had stopped and was drying, but a few more droplets had formed. "That'll scar if you don't get it stitched by a doctor."

"No," William said firmly, looking anywhere but at them. "Can't go to a doctor." Tara and Xander exchanged a glance but ultimately dropped it. Tara expertly grabbed a brown bottle of clinical disinfectant, swabbing the slash like she'd been doing it all her life. William winced slightly as the burning liquid started taking action. 

At the other side of the library, a loud and vocal fight between Gunn and Faith erupted. "If you could just fuckin' back off, I'd be a little happier!" she yelled.

"If you could just relax-" started Gunn with equal volume.

"Guys!" interrupted Xander. They fell silent, glaring. Tara glanced at Xander before heading over, ready to patch things over between Gunn and Faith, sort out whatever argument had made them yell. Xander had long since learnt that everyone seemed to have a separate role in the group, and each one was relied upon. He was yet to figure out his own.

"So, what will it be tonight: bandages, band-aids? Or the usual whisky on the rocks?" asked Xander lightly, looking at William, even if he wasn't looking back. "Come on Brit-boy, chose or it's the doctors for you."

"Whatever."

Xander sighed, glaring down at the assorted medical equipment in the neat little box, as if it was the cotton-ball's fault. "Listen," he said, quieter now, "I don't know what's wrong. The kiss in the gym…I thought you liked it."

"I did," William muttered. 

"So did I. What's the problem?" asked Xander. 

"Isn't it obvious?" asked William, looking at him. 

"No…"

"Well…come on, we're guys and…" William gestured a little bit wildly. "Isn't kissing more common to boys and girls rather than boys and boys?"

"No. There's this little thing called 'homosexual', and another thing called 'bisexual'," Xander said as calmly as he could. It was hard not to react to that. It was like admitting that Xander was indeed gay. Xander paused at this thought. 'Am I?' he wondered, mentally shrugging. 'Not too much of a shock. Not like I was the biggest womanizer ever to hit Sunnydale High.'

William flinched at the words, subtle but noticeable. "Listen, Will," continued Xander, "if you wanna just forget it, I'm all for it-"

"Yeah, I figured," William said bitterly.

"Huh?"

"Well, what was that to you?" asked William, looking suddenly angry, though his voice was still quiet so others couldn't hear. Xander wasn't sure what he was angry at. "Just something to forget. Nothing serious. It's not like you feel anything for me. I don't know what that…that kiss was but it certainly wasn't the start of a relationship." There was a scoff on the word 'relationship', but even still, Xander's stomach started doing something similar to a gymnastics move when the word was mentioned.

"You really don't think I kissed you because I like you?"

"Of course not."

"Why so sure?"

"Because…" William seemed to flounder for the right words. "Because you never…no…"

"You're _not_ sure," said Xander with a little triumph.

"I don't know what I'm sure of," William sighed, suddenly looking very, very tired. There was a pause as they both contemplated over what to say next. Xander got there first.

"I like you, don't die of shock, but I do," Xander said. William blinked and seemed to forget whatever he had lined up to say. "I kissed you because of that."

"I like you as well," William added absently. 

"I hope so. I mean, we don't have to go around in the halls holding hands and calling each other sappy pet names amongst the public," Xander said with a shrug. "But I wouldn't mind…"

"Me neither," said William, with an expression that seemed to question his own sanity. 

"I didn't finish that sentence."

"You didn't have to."

Xander smiled widely, then glanced over William's shoulder. Gunn, Faith and Tara were wrapped up in intense conversation, not looking at them at all. Perfect. Leaning over the desk, passed the first aid kit, Xander planted a gentle kiss on William's lips. They lingered for a little while before Xander broke it off, both smiling madly. "This is rather insane," William said softly.

"I know. But we can break it off whenever we want."

"I don't want to."

"Me neither."

More smiling. Despite the disastrous school function, there seemed to be a lot of smiling. 

---

Friday's were always good in Xander's (and probably most other people's) book. He and Gunn had walked away from the library last night with the least amount of battering and bruising. When Xander had gotten home, his father was asleep on the couch and his mother had retreated to seclusion in her and Tony's bedroom to read, so Xander had the rest of the night to himself. He had spent it lying in bed the wrong way up, resting his feet against the headboard and tossing a baseball in the air, dazed at what had happened that night. Not the vampires, that was business as usual, but kissing William three times in one night was not. Okay, two times, really, but the first one in the gym had been broken in half, so therefore made the total count up of three. Discovering that he, himself, was gay was a difference. Or perhaps bisexual, Xander had wondered. He had been a little surprised to see that he was not lying on the bed, moaning in agony, groaning: 'why, oh why, am I gay? How terrible!' 

It was a surprise, but not something that Xander had been disgusted about. And it seemed that William was rather cool with it as well. Xander wondered vaguely if William had already known that he (William, that is) was gay or bisexual. Xander would ask the Brit when the right moment struck. 

William…Xander couldn't help but feel slightly giddy whenever he thought about him. He found himself hoping that William felt the same way. Then he wondered that if acting like a highschool girl was a symptom of being head-butted by a vampire. 

So. Friday. Goodness. As Xander walked through the opened doors of Sunnydale High, someone caught up with him. Faith put a hand on his shoulder as they greeted each other, keeping up their pace. "Did you convince Will to go see a doctor?" asked Xander.

"Yeah, only by tipping the handlebars that I was sitting on," Faith said, rolling her eyes. "He didn't want the 'rents finding out about his little dent, but then I made up a lie for him that involved him crashing his bike, losing his glasses and both of us having to make a pit-stop at a clinic." She shrugged. "Worked for the docs, and English's parents will believe anything ya feed 'em." Xander nodded, obviously satisfied with this new information. Faith paused, putting a hand on Xander's chest, stopping him. "Oh, and by the way, broken rib cage ain't so much of a biggy. I mean, I am the Slayer and all, and why not break a few bones? They'll grow back. Thanks for asking." As soon as Faith had started with this, Xander started apologizing, but Faith wouldn't let a word in before she finished. Now that she had, she waited for Xander to speak.

"Oh, gee, I'm sorry," he said sincerely. "It's just that you're a Slayer and all, and Will and Tara and us…aren't Slayers. And you looked okay when you left? I just assumed…" His shoulders slumped in defeat at Faith's expressionless stare. "Sorry." 

Her features broke into a grin and she put an arm around Xander's neck. "It's five by five, Harris. Don't sweat it. Besides, after the doctor patched me up a little, the bones are healin' damn quick. They're used it. But let's just say I'm takin' a break from slayage tonight."

"Last night was pretty wild."

"You're telling me. Man, I just wanted to stake Angelus so bad."

"Me too. We all did. Does Ethan know?"

"Nah, I'm gonna report it all to him during break." The bell rang out and Xander and Faith winced visibly. "You think that if the faculty found out about my night job, I'd be excused from this hellhole?" asked Faith, as they started towards the English classroom.

"Yeah, you wouldn't have to go to school. Kind of hard when you're locked in a padded cell with a straight jacket tailor made for you," Xander said, pointing out the obvious. Faith agreed and the two started talking about tonight's activities. Apparently, though Faith wanted a break from slaying, she was more than happy to go party at the Bronze. Xander was all for it, especially if he got a moment alone with – eep – William. Faith and Xander found themselves waiting outside, talking like best friends, as other classmates pulled up to wait for the signal to go inside the room.

Tara, William and Gunn arrived together, talking about the fight last night quietly so that they didn't catch unwanted attention from the other's students. The three made up the circle of five. "So anyway, William was just saying how he was more than happy to offer his large, empty house for all five of us to stay in for the weekend," Tara said.

"I wasn't. I said 'no'. I always have to clean up afterwards," William protested. 

"Aw, c'mon man, you're parents are out for the weekend, you'll be all on your lonesome with that big wide screen TV, the DVD player and the stereo and the large living space for us to camp out in," said Gunn, smirking at Xander and Faith.

"I _like_ my lonesome, thank you very much, and I did that I have to clean up afterwards."

"What's this I hear about camping out?" asked Xander, confused. Tara and Gunn looked at William expectantly, who sighed.

"My parents are staying in L.A for the weekend, something about Dad having to do some work up there in his law firm, Wolfram and Hart, or something, and Mum always goes along for these trips. So my house is free for the weekend and these two want to fill it with everyone's presence," he explained, rolling his eyes. "We've done it before and between the four of us, we made a wreck of the place and I had to clean before my parents got back."

"A 'wreck'? You call a few strewn items a 'wreck'?" asked Tara. 

"Well, not a wreck. But I still had to clean," William said sullenly. 

"So. We now have plans. I'll provide the entertainment, Faith and Gunn can bring the food, William can be our host and Xander…do you have anything to offer that can make the sleep over fun?"

"A bunch of CD's and contraceptives are always useful," Xander said with an exaggerated wink in Faith's direction, who lifted an eyebrow in return.

"I haven't said 'yes' yet," William said, glaring darkly at Tara who looked as innocent as possible. The girl was evil sometimes, when you least expected it.

"Aw, c'mon, we'll even help you clean up afterwards," Tara said promisingly. Everyone looked at William expectantly, whose shoulder slumped in defeat.

"Fine."

"Yay, we now officially have social lives!" Xander said, exchanging high-five with Faith. 

"Social, as in, hanging out with the same people that you see every day because you're not cool enough to make other friends?" asked William cynically, smirking.

"Well, if ya gonna put it _that _way," said Xander, theatrically glaring until William laughed.

"Class, inside," said the familiar voice of their English teacher. Everyone sighing in unison, they started filing in. Xander walked behind Tara and next to William.

"Hey, Tara, what's the entertainment that you're planning on bringing?" he said in a stage whisper, poking her lightly in the back. 

"Nude dancing," she shot over her shoulder, stunning Xander at her un-Tara-ness. She giggled and sat down at the front row. Xander took the seat behind her and William sat down next to him, and next to a window. 

"How's that?" asked Xander, looking at William gash on his eyebrow.

"Oh, it's fine now," William said. It didn't look fine to Xander. It was a dark red (matching William's jacket that would have looked too formal for school, if it wasn't denim), and you could see the stitches, at least four. "Doctor said that there's a chance it'll scar. But then he assured me it'll give me a rugged and dangerous look," William said with a skeptical roll of his eyes as he took out his notebook assigned for English, the homework book they had to read and a pen. 

"And you have an extra pair of glasses, I see."

"Always have to be prepared when you're dusting vampires for a living," he said with a slightly twisted smile. Xander mirrored it. There was a companionable silence, until Xander broke it.

"You realize you resemble a human shaped stop sign, right?"

"I'm aware."

---

The Scoobies stared at what was possibly one of the most disgusting things they had ever layed their eyes on. It was either alive or far beyond dead to the point of decay. When prodded, it made a wet, slurping sound that made everyone recoil. "My god, what is it?" whispered Xander, horrified.

"I don't know. Can we get rid of it?" squeaked Tara.

"Maybe we should see if it's friendly," William said nervously. 

"Nothing that butt-ugly could be friendly," Gunn disagreed. 

"Is…is it alive?" asked Xander.

"Nah, it's dead. Way beyond dead," Gunn answered. 

"Okay, Slayer duty calls, I'll try it," Faith said. She cut off a morsel and stuck it in her mouth. Everyone looked away as she chewed. "Actually, it ain't that bad, if you ignore the sticky wetness," she said, voice muffled from eating. The Scoobies were seated around the table, and Gunn had brought back today's cafeteria special – brown slime with green wobbly bits. It was the consistency of mud and the attractiveness of shit. As far as cafeteria foods go, this was by far the worst. "It kinda resembles spam," Faith said hesitantly. "Only with less taste. Could be pork." She swallowed, putting the fork down. "Okay, I'm done. Man, that didn't feel good on the way down." She put the lid back on it and everyone gave it a disgusted expression.

"Can we go outside? Suddenly the really spacious cafeteria seems too small for a sardine," said Xander, standing up. Everyone nodded in agreement and they trekked their way out of the school building and into the fresh air, obediently keeping within the boundaries of Sunnydale High. 

"My theory is that someone accidentally invoked it and decided to pass it off as food," William offered, walking beside Xander, the two trailing behind everyone else. He stuck his hands in his pockets, sneaking glances at Xander when he thought he wasn't looking. Xander caught his eyes. And they smiled shyly at each other, if not, they smiled dopey-like. 

"They didn't succeed, " Gunn said gravely. He suddenly brightened up as a familiar redhead walked over. "Hey Wills!"

"What?" asked William at the mention of what would be his nickname, plural. He then saw Willow and smirked as Gunn grinned at her like a small child seeing the ocean for the first time. Tara and Faith exchanged glances at giggled girlishly, an action so unlike Faith that Xander was inclined to do a double take. 

"Hey Gunn!" said Willow happily, hugging him, standing on her tiptoes to do so. Xander and William glanced at each other, sniggering at Gunn's expense. Gunn gave them a glare and the chuckles were cut like scissors through a thin strip of paper. "What'cha doing on the weekend?"

"Oh, a sleep over type thing," Gunn said, and he frowned at the disappointment in the redhead's eyes. "But I can break away from it early. Y'see, this group of losers are dragging me along, and I feel I should go with them to make their sad little lives a bit brighter. But I'm free Sunday afternoon." He ignored the death glares he was receiving. Willow took no notice.

"Cool, 'cause I was wondering if you wanted to go to a café thing, or something, or maybe a movie," Willow said hopefully.

"Pick you up at one?" asked Gunn, beaming as Willow grinned. 

"Cool, I'll see you there, then!" she said, kissing him on the cheek hesitantly. "But I gotta run now, science fair meeting and all." She rolled her eyes a little. "Bye!" She turned and walked over to where a mousy girl in braids and glasses stood, waiting. Willow whispered something to her ('Fred?' wondered Xander) and the two giggled, before heading back inside the main building, arms linked.

"Man, she's cute," said Gunn, grinning and turning back to the group. His smile vanished. "What?"

"You are so evicted from the Scoobies my friend," Tara said.

"Who are you calling 'losers'?" asked William, crossing his arms. 

"Hey, sorry if I have a social life by having another circle of friends," said Gunn, ducking as Faith threw a pencil at him. The five started wondering around again. "So is it okay if I ditch you guys? 'Cause if its not, I'll just go back and ask Willow out another time."

"It's fine, Gunn," Tara said assuringly, smiling. 

"Wouldn't wanna break Little Red Riding Hood's heart, now would we?" asked Faith, slapping Gunn on the back so even his stumbled forward a little.

"Besides, the sooner you lot clear off, the better," William added, grinning quickly as the death glare round was turned to him. As they walked, Xander had the unfamiliar wish to take William's hand in the normal relationship-ish way, but he didn't want to cause the Brit embarrassment. Admittedly, Xander would feel uncomfortable under quizzical and taunting stares, so he kept hands to himself. But walking side by side was like a cruel and unusual punishment. There was what he wanted, and he couldn't touch him, because of all these reasons that _seemed_ equitable, but didn't feel it. 

'Just a moment alone,' Xander wished, 'and then I could experience another first kiss.' A nagging voice in the back of his head pointed out the oxymoron.

---

William had agreed that everyone should arrive at his place at one P.M. He had taken Xander aside and asked if he'd like to arrive at twelve. This had made Xander bouncy all through the rest of Friday, much to William's pleasant amusement. The rest of the Scoobies, unaware of William's arrangement, based Xander's hyperactivity to the fact that it was Friday. Everyone gets at least a little bouncy on Friday, especially after a long week. Gunn had been in a similar state if mind, not really speaking much but wearing a happy grin, so that by the time the bell went, signaling the end of the school day, all Scoobies were pretty much ready to punch the lovesick vampire hunter. 

They gathered at the front of the school, ready to head their separate ways, exchanging phone numbers, email addresses and home addresses. Mainly it was a one way deal: Xander to Scoobies, Scoobies to Xander. The conversation was made up of: "Hey Tara, you didn't say your email address" and "Ah, well, y'see, my house is _behind_ that one, so it's not really '14A', more like '14B', but that's not what our post reads" and "Oh, that looks like a seven. It's meant to be a one. Let me correct it…" and "Gunn, don't tell me you don't have an email address. Hello, welcome to 1997!" and "That's my phone number, only it's gotten disconnected, but once it's back on you should be able to use it" and "Oh bloody hell, it _still_ looks like a seven. Just pretend it's a one."

It had been a very stressful event.

Xander got home to find the normal scene – his mother working on what seemed to be an endless parade of housework, his father out at work. "Hey mom," he said automatically when he heard her cleaning the dishes. No answer. Xander walked up to the kitchen entrance, looking at the back of his mother. "Hey mom," he repeated. Still no answer. Shrugging, Xander started away when Jessica finally did say something.

"You should call Jesse."

"Will do." Xander put his school bag at the end of his bed, looking around. Less boxes, only one that he hadn't finished unpacking. Cramped living space, unmade bed, strewn laundry, cluttered belongings, stereo that he'd accidentally left on, the newly hooked up computer and phone…pretty much the same room he had left in L.A, it seemed. Xander pressed 'Play' on the CD player, not totally sure what CD was in there. Songs from a CD that actually belonged to Jessica welled up – some John Bon Jovi thing. Shrugging, not really caring what was going on for background music, Xander sat cross-legged on his unmade bed, grabbing his phone and dialing the familiar number. Jesse's mom, a lady that Xander had gotten to know and love like an aunt, or a second mother, picked up the phone. 

"Xander! How are you, hun?" she asked, her voice sounding strange on the phone.

"I'm great, Tina," Xander said automatically, smiling at the sincerity in the woman's voice.

"That's good. I hope you're well and you're not lying to me," Tina said. "Okay, I'll just go get Jesse." There was a pause, a shuffle sound, and Jesse's voice sounded on the phone.

"Yo?"

"Hey, Jesse."

"Xander! Dude!"

Xander grinned. "Jesse! Dude!" he mimicked. 

"How's Sunnydale High? Man, did ya hear that L.A public thrashed Sunnydale in football last week?"

"Nope, didn't catch that one."

"Yeah, me neither, but I read it in the school paper this morning."

"We're still the same highschool losers, huh?"

"Yup." There was a pleasant pause, and Jesse continued. "How's stuff?"

"Stuff-ish. And you're stuff?"

"Pretty much the same. Oh, hey, there was this girl – remember the one with big fizzy red hair that we decided would implode if we stared at it too hard? Well, I asked her out, and she told me to fuck off, but it was still pretty cool."

Xander laughed. "Good to here it."

Some things never changed, no matter the circumstances. 

---

Other stuff changed, though.

Like people dying. It got to the point, during the night, that Xander felt like he could rip his eyes out from his head, just to stop the images. He looked blearily at the radio clock next to him, numbers fuzzy and green. 1: 56 A.M? Excellent. Moaning, Xander rolled over, head buried in his pillow. He had no trouble in getting sleep. In fact, he'd accomplished this already.

Three fucking times, in fact.

Neat, huh?

That dream, that dream of walking through the girls' locker rooms, seeing that same, limp, bloodless hand just lying there, fingers becoming stiff as rigor mortis set in. But the dream had been a little more extended, this time around. 

__

Xander rushed to Buffy's side, glassy green eyes staring sightlessly into nothing, and they never would again, as far as Xander was concerned. "Oh god, oh god, oh god," he whispered, kneeling there, the floor cold and hard under his knees. Her throat was bloodied, but he could make out the bite marks from which the blood had flowed. Hesitantly, Xander reached out with two inexpert fingers, trying to check for a pulse. He hadn't known that so much blood could get so cold and sticky so quickly. He wiped away the blood vigorously on his T-shirt, tearing his eyes away from the body of his friend. "Help!" The yell bounced off the walls. "Help! Someone, get help!" he cried, feeling useless and inept. "Anyone!" He had to stop yelling, his throat was starting to get sore from the volume he had pitched his voice at.

"Oh god, Buffy, please," he whispered frantically, voice thickening as tears of panic welled at his eyes. Furious, he wiped them away, trying to focus. But all he could see was her skin paled, colour ebbing away from her gaping lips, eyes wide and glazed over. Shaking slightly, Xander reached out for her hand, and recoiled almost instantly. Cold and stiff, as if she didn't have bone under her flesh, just a hard, unyielding metal frame.

Sitting back from his crouch, back against the lockers, Xander let the tears flow, fifteen years of a normal life having not prepared him for seeing his friend lying dead. Knees up, arms wrapped around them, he cried, unable to stop.

"I hate you," Xander whispered as a special montage of images from his memory and dreams floated through his head. He wasn't sure where the hate was directed. At Buffy, the vampire, for being such an obscene waste of space; at Angelus, for taking her life away and giving her a new one of hunger and emptiness; or at himself, for not being able to save her, nor having the courage to end the demonic version of Buffy Anne Summers. 

For the fourth time that night, Xander fell asleep, once again, dreamless. 

---

'Gaping like a goldfish never solved anything you moron,' Xander told himself sharply. 'Just check the address again to see if you've gotten the right house.' Xander looked at the slip of paper in his hand. 23 Verdana Avenue. He looked at the street he was on. Verdana Avenue. He looked at the number of the house. 23. He looked at the house. He looked at the paper. 

It was almost twelve – Xander had allowed himself a little more time to find William's place, and he had…perhaps. He wasn't sure if this was the right house. Well, 'mansion' would probably be a better adjective. Yup, this was the place. Hesitantly, and feeling like he was trespassing, Xander opened the gate at the front – it didn't even squeak! 'Weird. All gates should squeak.' The path leading up to the front doors was a pristine white, made of slabs of outdoor tiles that Xander felt like he was defiling just by wheeling his bicycle on them. The house was…big, if you wanted to use an understatement. Two stories high were reasonable. Three stories high were just plain ambitious. The front of the house seemed to stretch on for ages, and, by the looks of things, so did the back end. It was a nice white colour, with reddish tiles on the roof, and auburn coloured double wooden doors that stood at the front. Two squares of lawn sat on each side of the path, mowed within a few millimetres of its life. 

Xander rung the doorbell, the average 'ding dong' sounding out loudly. He had sort of expected the _Star Wars_ theme, or a Christmas jingle, or perhaps 'Ode to Joy'. But no. Just a nice, plain 'ding dong'. Xander decided that if he had his way, his future house would have the _Star Wars_ theme for the doorbell. 'Yeah, that'd be cool.' He waited patiently. In a house this size, William would probably arrive via chariot. But, then again, by the looks of things regarding to money, Xander wouldn't be surprised if William arrived in a silver Ferrari that had 'La Coca Racha' for the horn. After about a thirty-second wait, the door opened, and Xander smiled brightly at William, who gestured him inside. "I was just wondering if you had some sort of conveyor belt to get you from one room in the house to the other," Xander said, "'cause it must be kind of a hike…wow…" The place was clean. Not clean, but _clean_ clean. As in, one could defile the place by being in the same radius of a mile; it was so damn clean. 

"You're gaping," William said helpfully, closing the door behind him. 

"Only in the jaw dropping sense," Xander said, looking around the large entrance room ('the place had an _entrance room_. Or something'). "By the way, have you ever considered having the _Star Wars_ theme for a doorbell?" William gave him an arch look. "Didn't think so. Well you should."

"I'll keep it in mind," William answered, smirking at him as he took Xander's sling bag. "You travel light," he said sarcastically as the thing thunked to the floor when he had tried to haul the strap onto his shoulder. 

"There were a lot of contraceptives to bring," Xander quipped, earning a laugh. "And don't complain, I had to bike my way over here. I left it on the deck outside, if that's okay." He followed William out of the room and down a hallway, towards the stairs. "And by the way, someone could've warned me that you were royal."

"Royal?"

"Obscenely rich," Xander translated. 

"Oh, y'know, it's not something I like bragging about," William said seriously, straining as he lugged the bag up the stairs. "By the way, I am trying to be a good host, but you can help any time you want." Xander shot him a smile and together they managed up the stairs. After a few more moments walking, William kicked open a door awkwardly, as his arms were full. "Whenever we do this, everyone just throws their belongings in my room," he explained. 

"I think the words 'cavernous chamber' are a better description," Xander said, looking around. It was good to know that, despite the hugeness of the bedroom, it looked normal. It reminded Xander of his own room, only bigger. Laundry had been kicked into the corner; the computer on the cheap, pine desk was still on, showing a screen saver that involved a banner of words saying some quote by some dude whose name Xander didn't recognize. The bed was unmade, curtains half drawn, and books were strewn across the floor. Scale the room down by a half, degrade the computer by a couple of years, replace the screen saver quote for a dancing bee and exchange the thick volumes for a few comics, and it was basically Xander's room. 

"A messy cavernous chamber, I clean only when it can't be avoided," William said, half-apologetic as he dragged Xander's bag over to one wall, out of the way. 

"As is the mission statement for teenage boys everywhere," Xander added. William laughed lightly, at they found themselves standing opposite each other, the subtle whine of the computer serving as the only noises in the silent room and house. The next thing Xander knew, he had his arms wrapped around William's waist, William returning the embrace, heads resting on each other's shoulders. It had been the first of real contact since the blackout. William felt warm under his grey T-shirt, warmth that could be felt through the sleeves of Xander's own shirt, up his arms and against his chest. It felt so good to Xander, hardly used to hugs besides the odd one from Tara. Buffy had been into hugging, but that felt so long ago. His parents hardly even acknowledged him let alone touch him (something Xander was, in fact, grateful for. All he ever smelt from his parents when they came close to him was stale cigarette smoke and equally stale alcohol). 

He felt William lift his head, and Xander did the same. As soon as he had done so, Xander felt his lips captured in a warm, kiss, chaste and sweet. He happily closed his eyes, and he couldn't imagine anywhere in the world he'd rather be. Xander angled his head, flicking his tongue out shyly, inviting William to open his mouth, but no, William pulled away, and Xander was met by a bright smile, which he mirrored. "Hi, by the way," the Brit said, smirking. 

"Yeah, hi," chuckled Xander, absently reaching up and pulling William's glasses down his nose, in order to kiss the scarring cut on William's eyebrow, to which was responded by a why chuckle. "How are you?" William ducked his head, landing a gentle, shy kiss on Xander's neck. He tilted his head in response, and William kissed the same spot in between pauses in his reply.

"Fine, but I've been bored since yesterday evening." Xander barely listened as William gently led the kisses p his neck and across his jaw line. Equally tentative, Xander gently played with the hair on the nape of William's neck. "Thought today would never come. And it did, wouldn't you know."

"Yeah, days do that," Xander murmured absently as William's trail of kisses stopped at the corner of his mouth. He looked at the Brit, smiled, and captured his wandering mouth in a deep kiss, deeper than any kissing they'd done before then. Xander broke it off, pleased to find that he'd left William panting slightly. "You're not being a very good host at all."

"Oh is that right?" asked William skeptically, smirking slightly. 

"You haven't offered me anywhere to sit down," Xander said as seriously as possible. William's smirk spread into a smile and he disentangled himself from Xander, leading him over to the appropriately unmade bed for a typical teenager inhabited room. "This will do," Xander said, sitting down near the end. William settled down next to him, both getting the same idea and holding hands. 

No more words were exchanged for the rest of the hour that they were alone. They ended up lying down on the bed, perpendicular to what was normal for bed lying, snuggling as close as possible, exchanging smiles and kisses, both chaste and deep, arms holding them together, legs in a jeans-clad tangle. It seemed almost too soon when the doorbell rang, signaling the arrival of the second Scooby to arrive.

~~~

Yay, slash! Gotta love the stuff. For those Xander/Spike 'shippers who are getting annoyed with William being too…William-y (though I've gotten no complaints so far) don't worry, our beloved Spike's personality may shine through in ways I shall not say now. *ominous* And I've just thought of a future plot twist that made me all bouncy and really wanting to write this some more, just so I could get to it. Plus, it's fun slashing, bwahaha. Funny how the twist occurred when I was no where near the computer, as is the way. Anyway, next chapter will be up ASAP.


	6. Pon the Seas and 'Pon the Dory

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Title: Morbid Curiosity

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Chapter: 'Pon the Seas and 'Pon the Dory

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Author: DC – devils_symphony@hotmail.com

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Disclaimer: If I had created 'Buffy', I wouldn't be here. Don't own, don't sue. 'Cept the plot. No one can claim that but me. Oh, and the poetry is mine – made for the fic, BTW, so don't run away screaming about how I'm a crap poet. I mean, I AM a crap poet, but you can't tell from this, okay? Don't defy my logic.

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Author's Notes: God it's been a while, sorry for the delay. Here's *drum roll* chapter six!!!

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'Pon The Seas and 'Pon the Dory

---

The afternoon hours seemed to just be consumed like dry leaves in a fire. It was six o'clock – the sun was still about, as summer drew nearer and the Scoobies had spent the hours bickering lightheartedly over the DVD's Tara had brought over, whether pizza was going to be the dinner of that night and sleeping arrangements. There had also been a strange argument between Faith and Xander about whether zebras were white with black stripes or just generally black and white striped. Gunn had whacked them both and they came to the mutual agreement that zebras in general should just pick one colour, black or white, and stick with it, without all of this stripe nonsense. It had been an enjoyable – and strange – afternoon. Tara and Gunn were trying to decide whether they should watch 'Mission Impossible' or 'Interview With the Vampire' first, William was placing orders for pizza on the phone, and Tara and Xander chatted quietly, both curled up on the couch at opposite ends. The living room was spacious and was a strange but surprisingly workable cross between Victorian era and modern – the beautiful portraits of ladies in gowns and antique oil lamps on the mantle versus a glass and metal coffee table, a wide screen TV and a pristine white couch. 

"So, Xander, two weeks of Sunnydale life," Tara said in her Serious Tone, eyebrows furrowed to match it, with the telltale playful smile tugging at the corners of her lips. She was already dressed in pajamas, despite the sunlit hour, strawberry blonde hair in a loose ponytail. There was a pause, and Xander gave her a look.

"A fortnight, as our friends in the UK call it," Xander said, his own tone a duplicate to her's. 

"Yeah, I never got that. 'Fort' and 'night'? It just makes no sense."

"Well you know thoughs crazy Brits, they're all completely spontaneous and insane."

"Calling two weeks a fortnight and all," Tara said. "But really, two weeks of Sunnydale. How's it going for you?" She switched from playful small-talk Tara to concerned sisterly Tara in a matter of seconds. Xander almost did the Loony Toons double-take thing. "Do you miss your friends in LA?"

"Friend, no plural, he goes by 'Jesse'," Xander corrected with a little grin. "Yeah, I guess. I called him yesterday."

"That's good, you should keep in touch," Tara said sincerely. The girl was nice-ness personified.

"Yeah, well," Xander shrugged, "I'm doing okay over here though. I was pretty dead set on the fact that I may as well just fade in to the background for the next two years and move back to L.A once school's out. But I think I'll hang around, bring a little comic relief into the gloomy world of Sunnydale. And donuts."

"Donuts?"

"I bring donuts. In the morning, Jesse, Buff and I met outside school and...I was the bringer of donuts," Xander finished with a wide grin. 

"We all need donuts," Tara said with a smile. 'That was either a very profound metaphor or teenage psycho-babble,' Xander thought, not able to decide which. "Especially the ones with the sprinkles," Tara added after serious afterthought. 'Teenage psycho-metaphors.' At that point, William walked back in and flopped down ungracefully between them. 

"Two large pizzas, one half Vegetarian, the other Meat Lovers, one half Seafood Special, the other Hawaiian, a roll of garlic bread, two large bottles of Coke and a lunch box of pasta," William sighed, leaning his head back, looking tired. "In forty minutes," he concluded.

"Did the pizza guy hate us?" as Tara.

"Well, he hated me at least."

"We're just finical and selective," Xander said, "and entirely lovable."

"The pizzas _are_ overpriced," William said, still staring at the ceiling. "They should consider that before judging us on our fastidious pizza planning."

"Okay, we give up," said Faith, scooting over closer to them, Gunn following. The three on the couch looked at them, with identical expressions of amusement. "Do you guys want Tom Cruise served up with pale and fangs, or Tom Cruise hanging from the ceiling?"

"Is both an option?" asked Tara, putting on an overly helpful tone and a bright smile.

"Bondage vamp," Faith mused, she and Tara sharing an appreciative smile. 

"How about 'Mission Impossible' first and dish up 'Interview' for comic relief?" suggested Xander. Despite helpful suggestions of sorts, they kept arguing insouciantly up until the doorbell rang, signaling pizza. William stood, as if emerging from a little world that was devoted to playful bickering, and he folded his arms authoritatively. 

"Don't expect me to carry everything over here," he said. No one moved. "I'll make you all help pay for it." Xander stood after Tara poked him in the shoulder and Gunn prodded him in the shin. 

"Okay, okay," he said, glaring at them both. "Because I'm the only nice one," he added with a bright smile. William rolled his eyes but gave a small smile all the same, before stepping passed Tara and towards the exit, Xander at his heels. "Well, fun evening so far," Xander said conversationally as they walked to the front door. "Kind of like a dysfunctional family, where we argue over everything but in the end we all love each other."

"We practically are a dysfunctional family," William agreed, "minus the drunken uncle and the loud-mouth cousin who beats you up a lot." Xander blinked as some of that sparked recognition. William opened the door, greeting the pizza guy with an absent 'hello' before asking what he owed him. Xander watched as William reached into a pocket of his baggy jeans, taking out multiple twenty dollar notes, peeling a few off the stack and handing it over. "I didn't bring you here for attractive scenery, grab a couple of things," William said when Xander didn't move. He shook his head and stepped up, the pizza guy handing him a large pizza box and the bottle of brown diluted syrup acid that was Coke. 

The delivery employee – a predictable post-highschool kid with a driver's license and an acne problem – used crass commercialism for a goodbye. "Thanks for ordering at Pizza Perfection, Sunnydale's leading-" Xander kicked the door open with a bright smile, having shaken off the troubling reference a minute ago to what sounded way too much like his own family.

"Pizza chain," William concluded for the poor Pizza Perfection employee. He gave Xander a smirk before walking back towards the room. He was stopped as Xander managed to get a hand free to holding the sleeve of William's T-shirt. "Hm?" Awkwardly, Xander sidled up to kiss him and succeeded. He felt that low tingle he usually did when William kissed back, the one that felt too good to be real, and all of the other sappy sentiments that went along with it. The Brit pulled away after a few seconds, smiling softly. "You pick your moments poorly," he said, indicating the armful of American grease, "but the content's always worth it."

"We gotta do pizza again sometime," Xander said as they started strolling lazily back towards the living room. William gave him an arch look.

"Really? Have all thoughs orders again and enough food to feed an army or at least an entire Third World country?" he asked incredulously. "And I think I've absorbed enough grease through the box into my arms for at least a year. Next time, Chinese, which is basically also grease and oil in plastic boxes, but at least aforementioned grease and oil won't seep and imbed itself in my arms and deteriorate the skin-"

"I meant just us, Will," Xander interrupted with a smile at William's train of thought. The offer seemed to derail it as William looked at him in surprise, before recovering quickly.

"Right. Pizza and us. Sounds good," he said shortly with a small and shy smile. Xander had to grin at that. It was kind of cool knowing that you could turn someone from babbling and carefree to small smiling and shyness, just because you asked to hang out with them. Waitaminute – not just hang out. Did going for pizza with William come under the 'date' category? Xander had to find a handbook, a handy reference guide or a nice simple index on what was and wasn't dating.

Brushing the irksome question aside, Xander managed to steal one more kiss before they headed back into the room with the rest of the Scoobies. Despite the lack of enthusiasm for getting the foods at the door, all three leapt up to help unload the boys, Tara going off to the kitchen to grab glass to pour the Coke in. "What took you guys so long?" asked Gunn, peering into one of the square boxes in search of the Seafood Special half. Xander and William glanced at each other as William set down the lunch box of pasta and tube of garlic bread.

"The guy was trying to find change," Xander said, opening the second pizza box. He wrinkled his nose and took a one of the Seafood slices. "Mm, invertebrates and scaly friends, taking flight 464 into my mouth," he said happily, biting down. 

"You've just inspired me to go with Meat Lovers," William said, drawing his hand away from the Seafood Special with a vague look of disgust and amusement. Gunn grinned and bit into his own slice. Faith snickered, grabbing a Hawaiian, cupping a hand under it to prevent stray pieces of pineapple and ham from falling. Tara came back, setting the glasses on the table with a clatter that made William wince in sympathy for his poor furniture and glassware. "Anyway, have we chosen what we want to watch first?"

"Yeah, everyone wants the vamp flick, but Gunn still wants 'Mission Impossible'," Faith said, rolling her eyes.

"Well, we can only solve this with a mud wrestling round," Xander said, pouring himself a glass and nicking a middle slice from the garlic bread roll. 

"Obviously," added William, rolling his eyes heavenwards. 

"Let's just watch 'Mission Impossible'," Tara said democratically. "Because deep down we don't actually care, because all we really want is to spend time with each other and a movie is just one of the things we'd bond over, so it doesn't matter what we watch, as long as we're all together and happy."

"I want 'Mission Impossible'," Gunn said stubbornly, but the dawning of a telltale smirk gave him away for just playing along. About ten minutes later after a couple of bathroom runs, the movie finally started up, and the Scoobies settled down to watch. William and Xander had taken over the couch again, and Faith had claimed the end of it. Tara and Gunn lay on their stomachs on the ground in front of the TV, resting their chins in their hands, picking at the remains of the Hawaiian pizza. Xander had seen the movie before at least, oh, four times, which was three times too many, but no one else in the bunch had, so he watch them, smiling as they all smirked when the cool action stunts set in, all eyes widened when the twists and turns were revealed, all grinned at the way the movie ended. By the time it _did_ end, night had well and truly set in, and Tara was now dressed appropriately in her kitten patterned pajamas which was so adorable you could keel over and die. 

"Okay, _now_ can we watch the vamp flick?" asked Faith, standing up. 

"Like you didn't enjoy it," said Gunn over his shoulder. 

"It was cool," the Slayer admitted, stretching her arms above her head. She then grinned. "I liked the part when he was on the train and with the exploding chopper in the train tube. That was wicked cool."

"Yeah, and when Ethan Hunt was at the aquarium restaurant thingy, and the fish tank exploded," added Gunn. Faith sat cross-legged opposite Gunn and the two started babbling excitedly about the movies stunts and effects like two nerds at a Star Wars convention, using motions to describe what they were talking about, only except swinging arms and going 'tzzzzzing', it was more like splayed fingers and 'kaboom'. Tara sat up, smiling at the chatter and sometimes adding her opinions and a few nods. 

"Okay, I'm gonna get changed into appropriate sleep over stuff," Xander announced, and William nodded in comprehension, but the other three were too deep in their own conversation. They glanced at each other, smirking.

"And I need to set fire to the giraffe's torch hitter, they get really red at this time of microscopic activity," William added, picking up random bits of gibberish as he went. No reaction.

"You know those articulately yellow cabbage finders, they're always clicking the Sundays," Xander chimed in. Still no reaction. They grinned at each other and left the room, chuckling smugly. "Well, that made sense, only not," Xander said after they were out in the hallway.

"I think they enjoyed the movie," William said with a smirk as they started towards the stairs. "What are you getting changed into?"

"I've been on the Hellmouth for two weeks and already my first reaction is – changed into? Like an animal?" he said, earning a nod of agreement from William. "Just boxers and a T-shirt, universal sleeping gear." 

As they started up the stairs, Xander did something that he had wanted to do all through Friday and through most the movie they had just watched. He took William's hand as casually as possible, not looking at William who looked down at the clasped hands and then up at Xander as they went. Xander wanted it to be natural and not awkward. He saw, out of the corner of his eye, William relax and the gesture went under the category of 'normal behavior'. Xander silently celebrated. They approached William's door, and Xander started to go in and get changed, leaving William out in the hallway, when the hand in his own pulled him back. Xander looked around at William, and as soon as he did so, his mouth was captured in a kiss. He smiled into it, using his other hand to pull William closer to him. The Brit's other arm settled comfortably around Xander's neck, and Xander put his arm around William's waist, their other hands stilled clasped, hanging down at their sides. 

They broke off the kiss, both wearing smiles that would be classified as idiotic. "You've any idea how good all of this feels?" asked William quietly, tilting his head slightly.

"Hell yes," Xander said, voice equally hushed, chuckling a little. William started to say more, but before Xander realized that the boy was about to speak, his pressed his lips against William's once more, who kissed back, words he had had lined up obviously not mounting up to the kiss. Acting a little more on instinct now, Xander stepped forward a foot, propelling William backwards and into the wall, softly but almost unstoppably. The Brit gave an irrepressible moan as Xander pressed himself against William, the sound sending tingles and warmth straight to Xander's gut, and also, his groin. Xander had been turned on before, but not with William – it had been too chaste to be sexual, more about emotion than anything else. Blood rushed to Xander's cheeks at this, and also to his nether regions. He broke away, finding himself gasping slightly. William's face was equally flush, eyes hooded behind his glasses. William obviously felt the same way, hence the moan. Xander started to kiss him again, got a different idea, and ducked his head down to kiss the Brit's neck. The arm around William's waist tightened as William moaned again, head inaudibly colliding with the wall behind him gently as he leant back. Xander switched sides on William's neck, mouth landing on where his jugular on the right side would be, and kissing down a bit more before his lips met with the scars. 

"Ah," William said vaguely, and Xander looked up. "Not there," he said, with a touch of self-consciousness. Xander nodded in understanding, and William kissed him chastely. "We have a pretty good chance of one of the others wandering up here, so why don't we take a rain check?" Xander grinned brightly, kissed William on the scarring cut on his eyebrow and untangled his hand from William's to pull the bespectacled boy's glasses down his nose. 

"'Kay," he said, taking a sudden step back, pretending not to notice the way William pressed his hands against the wall to keep from slipping, support gone. William smirked a little, pushing his glasses up with his middle finger. "William, how rude, what would your parents think?" Xander mocked, reaching out grabbing the finger.

"That you're a bad influence," William said, pulling his hand away to gesture towards his room. "Run along now, get dressed and I'll provide substitute entertainment for the children downstairs." 

"Don't do anything I wouldn't do," said Xander, leaning forward to peck William lightly on the lips before turning and heading into the boy's room, closing the door with a faint click. He had played the cool, nonchalant but caring boyfriend well, right? His erection was very slowly subsiding, but still uncomfortably unsatisfied. William didn't have to know that, though. Stepping over Gunn's bag that had been flung carelessly inside, Xander grabbed his own and pulled out his generic sleep over gear, peeling off his clothes and replacing with the more pliant-than-jeans satin boxers that ended around his knees, and a loose T-shirt that was old and frayed around the hems. Xander sat down on the edge of William's bed, pulling off his socks and replacing them with woolly versions of the same thing. He looked around the messy room, taking in details he had before. A dark wood bedside table held a silver reading lamp that was the twin of the Pixar mascot. Beside it was a dark blue crystal of some description. When Xander put his hand near it, he felt a slight tingling sensation, like a mild dose of static electricity. Weird. Beside the crystal was the book Ethan had lent William, looking ominous with its lack of title and presence of rune carvings. Xander went to pick it up, but as soon as he touched it, his hand jerked away. It was like touching something that was white-hot, only more with the reaction speed and nil with the hot or pain. Xander tried again, but he kept jerking away from it. Xander surveyed his fingers. No red marks to indicate that he had touched something burning hot, no instantaneous blisters. It was like his nerve system registered 'pain!' but his brain or the nerves themselves didn't. Very weird. 

Shrugging, Xander opened the top drawer of the bedside table, wondering vaguely if he was infringing on William's privacy (he had only learnt that word yesterday, after going through life thinking that 'infringement' was the act of making tassels. So now Xander was intent on using it for its correct meaning in all possible circumstances, to make up for his past ignorance). Well, William wouldn't mind, and the Brit was free to go through Xander's things, of that Xander was certain. Inside was a black covered notepad glowing with the shiny new-ness most recently bought stationary seems to glow. He flicked it open to see a list of words, all rhyming. "Story, glory, gory, Tory, dory..." Xander read, confused. Who the hell spent time trying to list words that rhyme? 'Someone wanting to write a poem. Or someone really, really, chronically bored,' Xander reflected. 

He went to the next page, which had a few lines that were scribbled out. Two weren't.

__

'Pon the seas and 'pon the dory,

Above and beyond

The sentence was left unfinished. Xander snickered. William wrote poetry? Well, not completely unbelievable, he did have a yen for reading the stuff. Xander closed the notebook. Inside the drawer was also the poetry book William had borrowed from their English teacher, and a book with a hard cover to make it look like it was leather. It was a thick spiral notebook and it had the recognizable wear and tear of something frequently used. Xander took this out, and opened to the first page, prepared to put it back if it turned out to be a journal or something. There were dates, true, but instead of diary entries, there were poems. Xander's eyes widened as he flicked through the pages. Almost completely full of poems long and short, all rhyming, as far as Xander could see. Making a little sound that reflected admiration of William's assiduousness (one bored day, a thesaurus, too much free time) towards writing, Xander opened the notebook to a random page and read on William had written before Xander had met him.

__

1/2/96

The sun, it shines down towards him,

Like Heaven's opening, like a yellow grin.

Tall, sandy hair, green eyes, sea-deep dye,

Voice to die for, to fall asleep by.

Love cannot be contained in a mere wink,

But it's this that he conveys, missed in a blink.

Hold my hand-

Flushing with shame for prying, Xander snapped the book shut. William had written a love poem about a guy? Hurriedly, as if he expected William to come running in any moment, Xander put the book back and shut the drawer, guiltiness seeping into his system as quickly as the blush stained his cheeks. Okay, so that answers one question – William already knew of his own sexuality. Being British and all (Xander had a few views of the world, despite never traveling anywhere), he had probably committed what would probably a shame for him, to paper and only to paper. That explains why William was so awkward after their kiss in the dark – he wrote about it, but he had never contemplated it happening.

Guilt still as common as blood in his veins, Xander opened the drawer again, taking out the poem notebook and resting it on his knees, closed, fingers drumming on the cover. He'd already read _one_ poem, a few more wouldn't hurt. Besides, the stuff was pretty good. He had a feeling these were final drafts, or something. The unfinished verse on the cheaper notebook on top of the table had been...kind of...bad? Hesitantly, Xander opened to the last page, reading the date. It had been written a week ago. He scanned the poem for his name – there was a lack of it, thank god. He'd _really_ feel bad for prying if there was anything about him. He opened a page at random, more towards the start. He read love poem after love poem, the pattern sometimes ruined when a poem of no particular genre was put in there. It was all rather light and traditional and romantic. Some of the love poems referred to the sandy haired stranger Xander had read about before, some hadn't. After a while, Xander closed the book and put it back in the drawer, heading out of the room and deciding that William would never, ever find out about the little infringement. 

---

"Okay, Faith: if you were on a desert island, what four items would you want with you?" Tara asked. The group sat in a circle, playing a game Tara and Xander had jointly made up on the spot, called 'Ask a Random Question For No Reason', or 'Aaquefonir', as Xander had put it, making a word out of all of the initials put together. Tara had said something about how some of the questions were psychological and insightful to someone's personality. They were all dressed in a range of different sorts of sleep wear. There was Xander in his modest boxers and old T-shirt, Tara in her kitten pajamas. Faith wore boxers as well, only these were tighter and made guys eyes stray downwards. She also wore a singlet top that looked too flimsy to be actually classified as clothing. Gunn wore something similar to Xander, dark greys and dark blues, and William wore a long and loose black T-shirt and grey tracksuit pants. 

"Does the island have vamps?"

"Faith. It's a desert island. Deserted. Except you."

"Good point," Faith said with a half-smile at her own expense. "Alright. Four things? Laptop with Internet that's completely charged so I can email someone to get me the hell outta the island. A huge icebox with food in it, anything that ain't good for ya but great for the soul, a big box of matches and a big tank of water."

"Good answers," Tara said. "I guess that means you're practical, efficient and resourceful."

"In other words, a Slayer," Gunn said, and Faith grinned.

"Okay, my turn," the Slayer said, looking around at everyone. Her dark eyes rested on Xander, and she smirked. "Hey there."

"Uh oh."

"Harris: if your house was burnin' down, and you could only take one thing, what would it be?"

"Original," Xander said sarcastically.

"I try," Faith said equally sarcastically, shrugging.

"Hm, if my house was burning down, what one thing would I bring?" Xander mused, tapping a finger against his chin. "That's stupid, I'd bring more than one thing. I guess I'd make a grab for my comic book collection." Everyone exchanged a glance of 'innit cute?' except Gunn, who just gave him one a proverbial lift of the eyebrow. Xander grinned. "Or I'd take the fire out of the house."

"What does that mean in psycho-babble?" asked Faith, looking at Tara.

"Well, combining the comic book answer and the fire one? It probably shows someone with an almost realist, or maybe a pessimistic frame of mind," Tara said. Xander frowned.

"How'd you figure that one?"

"Well...you're comic book collection is something that you've worked on over a period of time, but it holds no value to anyone else, so that's an item that will improve your private life, and that may be seen as a-a sort of defiance that says that you can't see a way of improving life in general. A-and the fire? That's pessimistic, because you know it's impossible and you see the impossible as b-being the only alternative, s-so there's, um, no point." A silence descended upon the group, and then Tara gave a lopsided smile. "O-or you're a geek with a quirky sense of humor." 

"That's it," grinned Xander and everyone chuckled. "Okay, my turn?" He looked pointedly at Gunn, who looked at him expectantly. "Gunn, light of my life," Gunn rolled his eyes and threw a corn chip at him (Faith brought the corn chips, Gunn brought the two six packs of coke), "here's a question. Once I think of one." He wrinkled his nose, and Gunn lifted his eyebrow again, smirking. "Ooh, I know. If you could be any object, what would you be?"

"Odd, odd question," William said, looking at Xander over the rim of his glasses. Xander stuck his tongue out at William before looking back at Gunn, who was contemplating. 

"I think it was good," Tara said helpfully, smiling.

"I'd be a car," Gunn said decidedly. "A cool car. What's that in the world of psychology?"

"You're a grease monkey?" asked Tara, shrugging, with a small grin. "What kind of car?"

"Actually, maybe a pick up truck, a big one with big wheels."

"Hymph, what're you compensating for?" snorted Xander, getting another corn chip thrown at him. It bounced off his ear and he ducked a little too late. William and Faith chuckled at Gunn's expense, who glared at them, the glare bouncing off uselessly.

"That could be a sign of insecurity," Tara said insightfully.

"Man, I don't even wanna know how you came up with that," Gunn said and Tara gave him a wry smile. "Okay, Tar, this is for you."

"Wait, how's she gonna do the psycho-babble for herself?" asked Xander.

"English is our Tara substitute," Faith said a matter-of-factly.

"Gee, thanks, American," William said, rolling his eyes.

"Okay, now, guys, don't make any jokes about contending for Ms. United States or any other lame-ass old pun like that, alright?" Gunn asked, pointing his finger. 

"You're going to ask how Tara may want to change the world?" asked William. "I never thought you'd stoop so low in this game, Charles."

"No, I'm gonna ask her to describe her perfect date," Gunn said, then looked at Tara. "Describe your-"

"Perfect date," she finished. She wrinkled her nose. "The guy or the date itself?"

"Uh," Gunn blinked the way one would when they hadn't considered all of the options in their question. "Both? Yeah, both."

"Okaaaay," Tara said carefully, scratching her head thoughtfully. "Um...looks wouldn't really matter, I don't think." Everyone rolled his or her eyes simultaneously. "It wouldn't!"

"I'm so insulted," Xander sighed melodramatically. She giggled, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"I'm not talking about you."

"So I'm not your perfect date?" he asked. "I'm so insulted," he repeated in exactly the same tone, and got whapped upside the head for his troubles.

"Moving on," Tara said after her light assault, "I'd like my date to be the one to pick up the checks. Y'know, a gentleman. Someone who would make me laugh, who'd never do anything stupid and, um, see me as me." She shrugged bashfully, hiding behind the few locks of hair not swept into a ponytail. "Y'know, someone reliable and open minded. And as for the date, I-I guess I'd like to do the traditional thing, movie and dinner, whether its premier seats and then reservations at the most expensive French restaurant in town, or outside of an electrical store and drive-through at McDonalds."

"I'd want to lean towards the premier seats and reservations," smirked William.

"All or nothing, baby," agreed Faith, nodding.

"But you're the guy, Will. You'd have to pay," Gunn pointed out.

"Maybe not, then. Carry on, Tara."

"That's about it," she said, shrugging. She then smiled, tucking stray locks behind her ears bashfully. "Well, maybe...a-after dinner and movies and stuff...we'd, I dunno, walk around all night, just being together. Like, go to the woods and, um, sit in the car listening to the radio, just being content w-with each other's company?"

"That's sweet," said Faith, nodding. "But you'll be waiting around for a long time, girl. Most guys are all idiots, wannabes and jerks." She looked at the three boys. "No offense."

"None taken?" Xander asked, raising an eyebrow, while the other two managed to look offended.

Tara giggled, than looked at William. "Your turn." William tilted his head, half-smiling, waiting for his question. "I-I could ask something easy, like 'describe your perfect day' or something...that was a not-so-subtle suggestion, by the way."

"I'm remembering that one," Xander said, putting up a hand.

"But I'll ask something a little harder," Tara said.

"Why?" asked William, sighing.

"Because we've all had easy questions all night, and I think we should get into some harder stuff," she said, and everyone gave her a look like 'but WHY?' "Just give me a minute to think about a good question." William sighed, then tapped Xander on his forearm with the back of his hand.

"Coffee? Tea? Hot chocolate?"

"How about I get hot chocolate, pretend its black coffee and impress the girls?" he asked, as they both stood from the circle. Gunn and Faith started talking about Willow, while Tara stayed in thoughtful silence, tugging at a stray piece of string from the hem of her sleeve. William led the way towards the kitchen, a pristine room with cool white and black tiles like a checkerboard, stainless steel reflecting the fluorescence of the kitchen light. 

"So, hot chocolate cunningly disguised as black coffee coming right up," William, opening the pantry door. 

"Hey, English, get me one too!" called Faith from the living room, her voice small and barely audible despite her bellowing. 

"Yes mistress!" he yelled back, rolling his eyes. "I should bring her back some tea and pretend there was a misunderstanding." William emerged from behind the pantry door with a jar filled with tea bags and a tin containing instant hot chocolate. 

"Pure evil genius," Xander said sarcastically, sitting up on the breakfast bar. 

"Indeed. Did you want little marshmallows in your manly black coffee?"

"I hate you."

William grinned as he turned on the electrical kettle, and then hoisted himself up on the bench and sat next to Xander. "You know, there is a reason for the stools in front of us."

"Yeah, but what they don't know can't hurt them," Xander said, resting his feet on aforementioned stools. Both, with the same idea at the same time, took each other's hand into their own, barely noticing the subconscious movement. "If we don't tell the stools of their stoolishness, then who's to blame?" Xander glanced own at their interlocking fingers, and took their held hands into his lap, playing absently with a plain, silver ring William sported on his middle finger. "Whassat?"

"An attempt at gothic jewelry," William said. He started to pull his hand away but Xander held fast. "A poor attempt but an attempt all the same. What're you doing?"

"Man, you look like you've never done a days work in your life," Xander chuckled, studying William hand, turning it so it palm upwards.

"Oi."

"Which is surprising, considering your extracurricular activities," Xander said in his Observant Tone. "Then again, I guess you use the crossbow more than a stake, which isn't so rough, kind of stand-offish rather than up close and personal. I wonder if Tara would have any psycho-babble for that?"

"Stop it," William said firmly. Xander blinked at him, before kissing the heel of his palm but not releasing his hand, earning a half-smile, a slightly lopsided one at that. "Well, keep going if you're going to be doing things like that." Xander grinned, letting go of William's hand, which placed itself gently on the back of Xander's neck. The kiss that followed lingered for all of ten seconds, chaste, maybe too chaste in Xander's opinion. Before he could attempt to deepen it, he was left wanting on the bench alone, kiss position. He glared at William who was walking over to the recently boiled kettle, grabbing five mugs. "So, hot chocolate for you and Faith and probably Tara, a tea for Gunn, presumably, and a coffee for me, just so I can knock the stereotype," he said cheerfully, grabbing a can of instant coffee from the pantry. He stopped under Xander's glare and blinked innocently. "What?"

Xander didn't say anything, but he hopped off the bench and intensified his glare. William chuckled and turned back to what he was doing, prying off the lid of instant hot chocolate with a teaspoon. Xander walked up behind him, peering over his shoulder and didn't hesitate to wrap his arms around William's waist, resting his head on the slightly shorter boy's shoulder. William contentedly leant into him, even as he picked up the kettle, pouring the boiling water into the five mugs, different shades of brown welling up to the brims. "Be a pet and get me milk from the fridge, would you?" William asked demurely, despite their position.

"Yes dear," Xander said sarcastically, earning a small laugh. He turned and opened the stainless steel fridge, surveying its contents with mild interest. It was well stocked, but well stocked in the sense that you could stare at it for a few minutes before reporting there was nothing to eat. Vegetables, fruits, a tub of yogurt, cheese, butter, a loaf of bread, a ready made salad in a plastic container, low fat mayonnaise, one of the six packs Gunn had brought, a few cartons on milk and a large bottle of orange juice. Xander grabbed one of the cartons of milk and closed it. "Your parents on some sort of health fixation?" Xander asked, setting the carton in front of William and commencing their previous position. 

"This being the reason I usually buy my own food," William said dryly, making use of the milk in everyone's except his own coffee. He reached up where a small bench was placed, grabbing a jaw of sugar. "How many spoons of sugar in your 'coffee'?" he asked, managing to do the quotation marks even while holding the jar of sugar and a dripping teaspoon. 

"Four."

"Blech," William said in obvious but mild disgust, even as he complied. 

"I have a sweet tooth, shaddup."

"Which is why you enjoy snogging me so much?"

"Ha. Ha. Ha. See me laugh, you crazy mirth-machine, you."

William snickered. "Right, well, help me carry these things into the living room, where my dreaded and insightful question awaits." Xander released the Brit and managed to get hold of two of the hot chocolates in one hand and one more in the other. They walked back to the living room, where Gunn was trying to describe to Faith and Tara an instance when he, his brother and their friends took out a big nest of vampires. Once they were settled, warm beverages in each hand, Tara grinned at William. 

"This won't seem very original," she said with a hint of apology, "but I think it's a good one."

"Personal, prying, profane and other adjectives starting with 'p'," Xander said, sipping his 'coffee'. "Maybe we can publish it publicly."

"Shush," Tara scolded lightly, and she turned back to William who was doing his best to look bored. "Okay, here goes it: what is your worst fear?"

"That's the big insightful question it took you a coffee break to work out?" he asked skeptically.

"Just answer it truthfully," said Tara, looking slightly offended but covering it well. 

"Well, I don't know," William said, staring down into the murkiness that was his coffee.

"Most things?" Gunn suggested, earning a light half-hearted glare from William.

"You want this in list format?" asked William dryly, turning towards Tara.

"No, only one thing."

"Well, to tell you the truth, I've never sat down and listed all my fears on a scale of scariest to sort of frightening," he said, still sardonic, doing a good impression of someone driving to dodge a question.

"Will, c'mon."

"I fear infommercials and the energizer bunny."

"Fine, don't answer it properly, I got all the answer I need," Tara said aloofly, un-Tara-ish.

"What? Why?" asked William, obviously confused.

"You keep avoiding the question with sarcastic remarks. That would give a psychologist more insight into your personality than it would if you just answered the question with a little bit more dignity," Tara said. Xander blinked. It was probably the most un-nice thing he had ever heard her saying. He glanced at William, who was giving her an expressionless stare, completely unreadable. She faltered under it but continued. "S-some might say that it indicates that one of your fears would be to h-have someone know you completely, without barriers, so you d-dodge personal questions...I could be wrong, I probably am, it's just a theory, I'm no expert," she said quickly when William didn't react. Xander realized that she hadn't been trying to be mean (it was TARA after all) – Tara liked working out peoples personalities and being insightful and she had let her mouth go off just now without too much thought on consequences. 

"No, you aren't," William said straightway, standing, placing his mug on the coffee table. "I'm going to have a shower before this party continues and I forget." With that he left the room and Tara groaned.

"I didn't mean to-" she started.

"We know," Xander interrupted.

"He's just English," Gunn said dryly. "Anyway, who's turn should it be now?" Tara remained looking guilty, even as Gunn took the liberty in asking a question. He asked Faith if she'd ever consider going out with any of the three boys here. It had led to a lot of uncharacteristic giggling on her part, admitting that when she had first met William, she had had a crush on him, and how insane was she back then, exactly? Xander stayed silent, not sure whether or not to be worried about William. Was there anything to be worried about? He'd seemed upset, but why? Tara was just making amateurish observations, and wasn't that the whole point of the game? Unless her words had hit a nerve, then Xander would be worried about him. Then again, who wasn't afraid of letting people in? Xander had a lot of secrets uncovered that he didn't want people to know. Slightly confused and unable to decipher how he felt about any of this, Xander drained his hot chocolate, and offered to put everyone's mugs away. William's coffee had gone cold, so, with a little bit of difficulty, Xander carried the four empty cups and the half full one into the kitchen, and then rinsed out the murky depths of black coffee. How William could drink the stuff, Xander would never know.

The cold water felt refreshing over his hands as he held them under the tap after cleaning out the mugs. It was relieving to take pleasure in such a simple thing, while Xander's brain was knotted with thoughts and theories about William and his reaction towards Tara. Xander knew that he wanted to know William, completely and utterly, and he felt like he already knew him a great deal more than a lot of others. Like, say, that he _wasn't _a geek on a power trip. Or that his poetry may have been slightly bad, but the intentions and feelings behind them made them better than most. That while he had a nice shyness about him around other people, Xander could bring forth something cynical, and at the same time, something confident and un-William-ish. Or maybe it was William-ish and everything else wasn't. Xander had yet to find out, but he wanted to, he wanted to know every inch of William's personality. But since his reaction to Tara's perception of his feelings (the sort of reaction one does when they hear something true), Xander wasn't sure if William wanted him to.

Sighing mentally and physically, Xander withdrew his hands from the stream of cool water, drying them absently on his T-shirt. He'd only known William for a week and longer, but it felt like less. Maybe he should never have kissed him when he did. Maybe this whole relationship was a mistake.

"Is it normal?" Xander jumped an inch and spun around to see William standing at the entrance of the kitchen, hair damp, darker and glasses missing, giving him a rather different look. The spectacles lay on the bench beside him. "I mean, I thought that it wasn't that I didn't want people to know me. It just depends on the people." He shrugged and Xander stayed silent, not really knowing what to say or what to make of William's words. "Writing poetry about delving into the nooks and crannies of other people's personalities, even if they aren't real." He seemed lost in his own statements, so Xander continued just to listen. "Kind of like a repressed fascination to myself." Another shrug. "Like I'm not really there, and all have are words."

"Will, what are-?"

"Because," William continued, ignoring him, walking closer, "I am here. All drawn up and entangled inside, overlapping and fusing together. It's all confused. I'm either the shy bookish one in the corner, or the one that wields a crossbow and steals kisses from boys behind people's backs. I feel like I can't be both, but I am. And if anyone found that out, found out that I'm not just me-ish, then what do I have? No more secrets, and that's all I own." He stopped in front of Xander, now looking at him. "But I can tell you anything, even if I haven't yet. That's why I'm in love with you."

The words sent stabbing feelings into Xander's heart, and he tried to speak by only dry squeaks would emerge, like a rusted gate...that had...just been told by another...rusted gate...that that rusted gate was in love with him? Weird analogy, but it seemed to work. William continued, Xander only barely grasping what the boy meant. "Because I feel like you know that I work on different levels, that I'm not always here? No, not the right words..." William looked away, trying to figure out how to say what was on his mind. Xander reached out, taking William's hand into his own, though the Brit barely noticed. "I write and read so much I can't piece together one soddin' coherent sentence," he murmured, before looking back at Xander. "I know that this is a cliché but...you see me. Tara's right, even if she didn't say it out right. I'm scared of people seeing me. Of knowing me. I don't know why, I just am. But I feel good when _you_ see me – I can't believe it's taken me this long to realize it. Is it the wrong reason to love someone?" The question was only half-rhetorical.

"No," Xander answered as firmly as possible.

"Maybe," William said doubtfully. "Maybe there shouldn't be a reason. Maybe there isn't. I don't know. I'm confusing myself now." He gave Xander a wry smirk, just before both leaned in for a kiss at the same time, hands still clasped tightly. Xander broke it off almost as soon as it started.

"You love me?"

William opened his mouth to speak, and seemed to reconsider, as if he had just realized that that was indeed what he had said. He smiled softly, lips less than an inch away from Xander's. "Depends."

Xander mirrored the smile, leaning in a little closer, feeling not his lips, but just the warmth, they were so close. "On what?"

"Are you really wanting to take me out for pizza?"

Xander snickered. "Or anywhere else you want to go."

"Anywhere with you. Sorry is that sounded, well, lame."

"It did, but thanks," Xander said, and leaning forward to close the rest of the tiny distance.

The kiss went on longer than either of them had expected. The doubt Xander carried around about whether or not he should have pursued a relationship with William this early in the game vanished. It would be back, doubts usually do that, but for now? For now Xander was happy where he was, kissing William, everything feeling so right. The boy loved him. Xander had never said 'I love you' and meant it, but he would have, at that moment. In fact, he would. He broke off the kiss, the words on the tip of his tongue, when William backed away, breaking any contact. "I heard 'em coming," he said by way of explanation at Xander's confused stare. 

"Hey, guys, we surfed Will's cable and found a movie to watch," Faith said, looking very good in her skimpy version of pajamas, dark hair loose and in tendrils. "If you guys aren't busy doing the whole male bonding things," William and Xander both fought to suppress a chuckle, "then come on down, but bring the six pack, okay?" She left, and they glanced at each other, chuckling. 

"So, did you answer my question?" Xander asked, opening the fridge and handing William the Coke six pack. 

"Which one?"

"Do you love me?"

William grinned. "For a date? Yes."

"And without the date?" asked Xander, closing the door.

"Don't you know?" asked William, tilting his head as he walked over to the bench to pick up his glasses and put them on deftly. 

"You're the King of Subtle, okay?" Xander said, tugging at William's sleeve. "Do ya love me even without the date?"

William grinned and kissed him, nothing about it chaste or wholesome or even _remotely_ subtle. He broke off, still grinning. "You're entirely lovable, yes, I do." He turned on his heel and stalked out of the kitchen, six pack under one arm. Xander paused for a few seconds, letting this sink in, before following William, catching up. He tugged at the back of the boy's T-shirt so he stopped.

"Love you too," he said in a rush.

"Good to know," William said, suppressing what would be a giddy, boyish and slightly idiotic grin and turning into an askew smirk. Xander leant in to kiss him when Faith suddenly arrived at in the hallway again. Xander stepped back, colliding with the wall. William started laughing. 

"Am I interrupting anything?" asked Faith sardonically. She didn't wait for an answer and she crossed her arms. "Well, the movie's starting." She stepped forward to take a Coke from William, who was still chuckling. "Thanks, slave." She turned and headed into the living room.

"That was scary," Xander said, and promptly hit William on the arm. "Stop laughing."

"Sir yes sir," he said. "Oh look, a Xander-shaped dent in the wall." He was kicked in the shin.

~~~

*twitches on the floor, spread-eagled* Finally. It's DONE. I don't know what took me so long. I guess I just had writers' block and my muse get dragging me off in new, scary places, like Ethan/Wesley and Andrew/Angelus. Don't ask, don't bloody ask. But here we are. Hopefully the little invasion of The Brick won't ruin the story. The whole thing just gives a 'rushed' vibe, doesn't it? *long suffering sigh* Sorry 'bout that. This chapter just screams: THE AUTHOR IS ENGAGED. Not engaged in the married sense *runs away screaming* but in the engaged sense, funnily enough. Holidays are over, you see. 

Oh, and can anyone tell me what colour eyes Parker has? And what's his last name? Wow, THERE'S a dead give away about who's gonna be my next AU victim. He's coming sooner than you'd think. Anyway, as soon as this is posted, I'm working on the next chapter, so it should be up a little sooner than it took to get this one up. Anyway, I wasn't sure about this ending. There were a number of different ones I was thinking of, but this one acted like the least rushed.


	7. Another Sunday

**Title**: Morbid Curiosity

**Author**: DC – devils_symphony@hotmail.com

**Disclaimer: **If I had created Buffy', I wouldn't be here. Don't own, don't sue. Cept the plot. No one can claim that but me. No pain, no gain. I didn't experience any pain. I have no gain (except for cool reviews, YOU GUYS ROCK!), no profit, no evil lawyers. Except Lindsey, he's allowed.

**Author's Notes: **It's taken me a while, but here it is, chapter seven, aptly named Another Sunday. So sorry its taken me as long as it has, I seriously suck, but so do exams, and I'm pinning all of the blame on them. But hey, I achieved a bunch of high scores, so taking a break from the computer and its wonderful fruits was at least somewhat worth it. Oh, and this one gets a teensy bit more graphic, but I know avid S/X followers won't mind. It's within FF.Net reason, so yeah. :)

---

**Another Sunday**

---

The movie had taken the group well into the night. It was the lengthy _Shawshank_ _Redemption_, and everyone, even the ever-restless Faith, were yawning by the end of it. After a few bathroom runs and sleep bag gatherings, the lights were switched off. The boys had gentlemanly given up the couch to the girls, who took it together, head to foot. The boys slept in a row, Gunn near the couch, Xander in the middle, and William near the TV. The DVD was still playing a CD, the volume turned down. For some reason, the album was the soundtrack to _The Lion King_, a CD that had some how got mixed up in the medium sized collection Xander had brought over. Faith – yes, _Faith_ – had been the one to whack it in there, and now no one really could be bothered turning it off. 

The group had talked for a while, in the dark, about slaying, about Tara's magick, about the locator spell that was yet to be used, about Gunn's family, until they had realised that Gunn had fallen asleep, soft snores indicating this fact. They continued the chat, but the spaces in between sentences grew longer, until Tara stopped talking. William had gone silent, but indicating his wakefulness by chuckling at some statements Faith and Xander made. Finally, after five minutes of waiting for an answer to a question he had forgotten, Xander realised that Faith was asleep. The Slayer was breathing deeply, back turned towards him. Xander closed his eyes, pulling his sleeping bag up to his chin, listening to the instrumental that was playing, feeling sleep tug at the bonds of consciousness, when he heard shuffling behind him. He turned to see William sitting up, placing his glasses on top of the TV, obviously unaware he was being watched. He was illuminated very vaguely by the green glow from the DVD player, the lime coloured numbers indicating what song was playing and how much of it had played. 

"I don't remember this bit," Xander whispered vaguely, not wanting to wake the others up. William didn't jump or turn sharply towards him. He just slid back down to horizontal in silent acknowledgement of Xander's consciousness. 

"What bit, luv?" he asked, formal speech diminishing with tiredness. 

"This bit. This music. I don't remember it," Xander said softly, one arm crooked and cushioning his head. William mirrored his position, and though Xander couldn't see the boy's eyes, he just _felt_ watched. 

"When the lion cub's father died," William said automatically, hesitated just at the end of the sentence, like one would if they had just realised that they shouldn't know this sort of thing. "I'd wager," he added, covering up ineffectively. 

"It sounds sad."

"It is."

"Mm." Xander sounded sleepier than he felt. He shifted, propping himself up by and elbow and shifting his pillow closer to William, before shifting himself in the same direction with slight difficulty. William did the same after a moment, taking Xander's hand into his own, a moment that would have been obnoxiously sweet if Xander hadn't loved it. He closed his eyes for a second – they felt like they needed a rest – letting himself be close to the boy and the gentle tunes, melancholic and pretty. He was about an inch from being a sleep when he felt William kiss him. The feeling was so distant, he was so sleepy, but it woke him up a little more, and it felt realer. Xander wondered briefly how the boy was able to find how mouth in the near darkness, before kissing back. After a few seconds, he untangled his hand from William's and reached out blindly, hand resting on his boyfriend's waist, covered in the silkiness of his own sleeping bag. He attempted to pull him close, but his hand easily slipped over the slippery surface. So Xander moved closer.

William had apparently taken the gesture to mean that Xander wanted him to move closer, so he did, so the two boys were nearer than expected. Xander didn't mind, and by the way William had started kissing his neck, the Brit didn't mind either. Xander reclined his head back, exposing more flesh, wrapping an arm around the smaller boy, feeling like _way_ too many layers were separating them. Then it happened. It just _happened_. Xander wasn't sure whether he himself had pulled William up, or William had slid up, or both, but suddenly, William was lying on top of him, Xander's lips captured in a harsh kiss. Xander stopped himself from moaning, just in time, not wanting to wake the locals. Now there were definitely too many barriers. 

He reached sightlessly for the zipper to William's sleeping bag and pulled. William broke off the kiss to pull the thing away, and after a moment's struggle with a few muffled chuckles of frustration and slight hilarity, Xander's was gone as well. He instantly pulled William back down on top of him before the Brit got all English on him, capturing Will's mouth in a kiss that was both deep and perhaps slightly possessive. William let a leg fall between Xander's, and Xander bit back another moan as he felt William's erection again his hip, stirring up his own. William ducked his head, but not to kiss his neck, but it seemed like he was hiding. Xander guessed that if there was light, he'd probably be able to see a blush settled across William's features. Not sure how to evade the boy's possible embarrassment, Xander rested a hand on the small of William's back, under the thin black T-shirt. William shifted under the hand, obviously in favour of the contact, and Xander lifted his knees absently, and Will let out a soft moan, that was instantly cut off. It was definitely a turn on, this close to being discovered, forced to keep quiet. 

Trying to be as silent as possible, Xander rolled over, forcing the other teenager under him. There was a dull thud as William's head connected softly against the carpet, and both winced at the sound. But no, the three hadn't woken up, Faith was still snoring softly, Tara and Gunn were still breathing heavily and steadily. Unlike Xander – oh no, the breathing was heavy, it was the steady part that he couldn't get. 

"We need to stop right about now," William whispered.

"Why?" Xander whispered back.

"Because we have three friends within a three metre radius of us and we have every chance in the world of getting caught," he pointed out logically. Xander really hated logic at these moments. He sighed to indicate that he was against this entirely, kissed William again and rolled off of him, and started wrestling the sleeping bag back on. After a pause, so did William, until both were back where they started. Xander reached out, groped the air blindly for a second, before locating William's hand and holding on to it. "We're not very good at timing," William said, stating the obvious.

"Spontaneity does that to a man," Xander said absently, closing his eyes again, absently running a finger over the cold of William's ring.

"It's catching, I recall."

"Uh-huh."

Xander wasn't sure if William had said anything after that, because about a moment later, he was asleep, just as the song on the DVD came to an end. 

---

"Round or funny shaped?" Xander blinked. He had woken up about fifteen minutes ago, and though he looked conscious, he felt like the walking dead, and not the bumpy-brow pointy-teeth type. He lifted his head from the breakfast bar surface, arms crossed.

"Is this one of those say what first comes to your mind' games, cause I'm not so sure you'll get very good answers. My brain's still sleeping on the living room floor," he said.

"No, I meant, round pancakes or funny shape pancakes?" she said, tilting the bowl she had in her hand to show a smooth, creamy mixture. "See? Pancakes. Breakfast. Important meal of the day. I make. So, round or funny shaped?"

"Square."

"Don't be difficult."

"Pancake-shaped."

"You're not a morning person, are you?"

Xander let his forehead collide with the breakfast bar by way of explanation. He heard Tara giggle and walk away to make pancake-shaped pancakes. If Xander did get a shot of coffee, or perhaps an injection of java directly into his bloodstream, he was pretty sure he was going to fall off the stool he was sitting on. He was still wearing his night clothes, and he had the clammy feeling one may get after a sleep over. And while he looked like a guy with a hangover in his boxers and old T-shirt, she looked energetic and cute in her kitten patterned PJ's, strawberry blonde hair looking like something from a shampoo commercial. 

"Tara, how long have you been up?" Xander looked up to see William sit beside him, looking about as dead as Xander felt. At least Xander wasn't alone on the Not A Morning Person front. 

"Half an hour or so. Round of funny shaped?"

"You woke up half an hour ago and you're bouncing, making breakfast and smiling at the same time? You are human, aren't you? Round." He stifled a yawn, resting his head in his hands, elbows on the bar. Tara gave him a half-smile, pouring some more mixture into the pan. "Anyway, where's Charles and Faith?"

"Faith's in the shower and Gunn's packing up his stuff to leave," Tara answered, grabbing the spatula out of a drawer as if she knew the kitchen like the back of her hand. She peeled of a pancake, put it on a plate and placed in front of Xander. "I think I may have invented the first pancake to not look pancake-shaped."

"That's possible?" asked William, glancing over. "Ah, I guess it is."

"Got syrup?" asked Xander, looking between Tara and William.

"No," William said.

"Yes," corrected Tara, opening the pantry and pulling out a bottle of maple syrup. Xander thanked her and grabbed it, pouring a truckload onto his breakfast, while William blinked.

"I do? Hey, I have syrup. Fancy that." He sighed. "I'm so tired. I need coffee." He stood and walked around the breakfast bar to turn on the electric kettle. "Tara?"

"Hot chocolate, thanks."

"Xan?"

"Ditto."

There was a pleasant sound of general relaxed business in the kitchen, and soon, the smell of percolated coffee filled the air, as Xander dug into his breakfast. "You have pancakes with your syrup, right?" Tara asked sarcastically, smiling as she sat down with William's and her own plateful. Xander glanced down at his plate and grinned.

"Yeah, but I'm going easy on the pancakes this time, gotta keep up my nutrition and all."

"Ah, I see I got funny shapes instead of rounds?" William asked, sitting down where he had been before, setting out the three mugs. Tara grinned without a trace of guilt, taking a sip from her hot chocolate. 

"You'll make a great housewife," Xander said encouragingly. When Tara gave him a dark look, he quickly backtracked. "Who is also smart and perfectly capable on her own without depending on a man to be prime breadwinner." 

"Just eat your pancakes," William advised, leaning over towards the herb and spice rack.

"What'cha doing?" asked Tara when he grabbed two shakers for cinnamon and thyme. 

"Just a thing," he said vaguely, tapping a very small amount of thyme into his coffee, and gave a few good shakes with cinnamon.

"'Cause thyme really adds that summer essence to black coffee?" Xander said sarcastically.

"Is it a Wiccan thing?" asked Tara brightly. 

"No, yes," William said, answering both things at a time. 

"What for?"

"Don't worry," the Brit said firmly, with a flicker of a smile, before replacing the herbs, just as Gunn and Faith entered the kitchen. Gunn looked as alive as Tara was, but Faith slumped against the wall, rubbing her left eye childishly, her dark brown hair wet and dripping onto her red tank top. "Oh god, another morning person," William said when Gunn poured himself a glass of water, with no signs of dampened hand-eye co-ordination or any other symptoms of sleepiness. "They breed like rabbits."

"Man, I need coffee," moaned Faith. "We were up later than I get home, and that's saying something. Like, we got to lights out mode at, what, three A.M.? Then you guys," she pointed at both William and Xander, "kept shuffling about and whispering, and I was too tired to throw something at you." Xander thumped William on the back, who had choked on his coffee at Faith's statement. "What were you doing down there anyhow?"

"You didn't hear us?" Xander hazarded, and Faith wearily shook her head. "Ah, we were..." He glanced at William, who had recovered and was now watching him with an amused expression, awaiting the lie Xander would concoct. Bastard. "Just talking, and then fighting over the last crisp. It wasn't pretty."

"A man's gotta eat," said William, with sarcasm only detectable if you knew the truth. Xander kicked him lightly under the table when he spotted the Brit rolling his eyes slightly. "Anyway, there's a pot of coffee waiting, Faith." She automatically started towards it, pouring herself a cup. "Help yourself," he said ironically, taking a sip of his own great American brew.

"Anymore pancakes?" asked Gunn hopefully, leaning against the closed door of the pantry. 

"The mixture's over there," Tara said. There was a long pause, before she sighed melodramatically and got up and heated the pan again. "You're getting funny shapes, mister," she said, mock sternly as she poured the mixture haphazardly.

"Wouldn't have it any other way. And hey, I gotta go in about half an hour if I'm gonna meet Willow on time," Gunn announced to the world in general, bouncing slightly.

"Look at him, all bouncy at this time of the morning after a night such as ours," Xander said, scowling with a lot of exaggeration. 

"Despicable. There should be a law against morning people," William agreed.

"They should be sentenced to insomnia, or something," Faith added, before downing her moderately warm coffee in one go, before immediately pouring herself another. "And hey, converting to business talk – when are we gonna hunt down Leather Pants and his lovely assistant?"

"Angelus and Buffy," translated Tara absently, flipping pancakes as she did so. She looked over her shoulder at the Slayer, who was now perched on the bench beside the sink. "We'll probably do the location spell on Monday, though Ethan hasn't said anything about it yet."

"Ah. Um, Mr. Rayne..." William paused, and rephrased his sentence. "The location spell has already been taken care of. We just need one more night or so for it to activate." Everyone stared at him, and he ignored the gazes, knifing the last of his breakfast, before looking up. "What?"

"Ethan didn't tell me," Tara said, more curious than offended.

William shrugged with unease. "He was probably going to say something on Monday."

"So...he didn't need me? I thought that he wanted both of us to do it."

"Not necessarily. We only needed the spell to be activated, which he did on his own, and I-I helped." There was a pause, and he sighed. "What is it now?"

"Nothing, just that we thought it was a group thing," Gunn said. "The whole spell."

"I thought it'd be done on Monday, and then we'd go off and hunt down Dead Evil," Xander added.

"Locator spells don't need a few days to be activated," Tara argued lightly, putting Gunn's pancakes on a plate and handing them to him. "Not usually. Not the normal ones I've read about."

"Well, this one did," William said shortly. "And you wouldn't have read about it, it was in the book Ethan lent me." Tara gave him a disapproving look, which the Brit ignored, downing his coffee and standing up. "Anyway, it's done and that's all that matters, right?" 

"I don't like that book, Will," Tara said, shaking her head. "Besides, I thought you were only reading it to get two opinions on the matter of magicks. A-are you practising spells from it?" William shrugged ambivalently, standing up to rinse off his dishes. "Because if-if you are... Just be careful."

"I will, I mean, I-I am, just..." He sighed, running the hot water tap, and Xander decided that it was probably I good time to change the subject. 

"So, Gunn, date, Willow, where?" he asked, and both Faith and Gunn happily embraced the change of conversation, while William kept his back turned as he started cleaning up, Tara looking at him with a worried motherly expression. Faith took over where William had been sitting, and Gunn lent against the closed pantry door, rolling up one of his pancakes into a thick cylinder so it resembled a spongy cigar. 

"There's this café a block away from Sunnydale High," Gunn went onto explain, unable to stop grinning. "We're meeting there, and I guess we'll stay for a while and have shakes or something, and then I'm taking her to a movie, and then whatever."

"I'd have never pinned her as your type, but its works, somehow," Faith said.

"She's funny, funnier than most people think," Gunn said, on the verge of babbling. "And cute, and really smart, and cute, and funny, and I did say that she was cute, right?"

"It may have been mentioned," Xander said, exchanging an aww, innit so adorable you could throw up?' glance with Faith. "Gunn's smitten, and its kind of frightening." 

"Hey, I'm _not_ smitten," Gunn said defensively, jabbing at the air with his rolled up pancake, granules of sugar spraying off. "Smitten' is for people like Tara, or Will, or someone who's not me."

"Excuse me?" asked Tara and William at the same time, both having put the late conversation behind them as they glared at Gunn comically. 

"Point being, I like her, but smitten' is going too far," Gunn finished, before taking a bite out of the pancake. Faith shook her head, laughing slightly.

"My god, Harris is right, Gunn _is_ smitten."

---

Gunn was the first to leave, having to have to drop off his belongings at his house before meeting Willow for their date. Or perhaps he just wanted to escape the various taunts of smitten kitten' and smitten like mittens' and bitten smitten guy' and any other bad rhyme the Scoobies could think of to annoy the hell out of him. For about an hour, Xander, Tara and Faith remained, until William pointed out that he wanted them gone before his father and mother decided to come home, so Tara left next, for homework reasons. Xander had hung around as long as possible, waiting for Faith to leave so he'd have at least five minutes to say see ya' alone. 

But it was at that point Faith had uncovered William's Playstation which had been rotting away in a cupboard, and she and Xander had gotten into a death rally, both lying on their stomachs, eyes glued to the screen. William had settled down on the couch to read, ignoring them entirely. 

"Argh, I can't get passed this bit."  
"Harris, it's easy. Look, I'm way passed you."

"Whatever, Ms. Super-Slayer-Reflexes."

"Somehow I doubt that playing video games is part of my special slaying powers."

"Well, if you need to save the world by winning a death match in this against Satan, then I would think it would be – argh, I died!"

"You know, I have better games," William said from where he was, glancing at them from his book. "Frogger' is not one of them. In fact, it was given to me by my oldest aunt about four years ago and I haven't touched it since."

"Aw, this is a classic!" Xander said, rolling onto his back to look at the Brit, who had an eyebrow lifted. "Come on, play with us Or just Faith, because I suck at this game, apparently."

"Nah, I should run," Faith said, turning off the TV and Playstation. She stood, stretching out cramps. "Drama homework, it seriously sucks." She rolled her eyes and walked out of the living room. "I'll just get my stuff." Once she was gone, Xander got up and sat down next to William on the couch. 

"What'cha reading?" he asked, putting an arm across the top of the couch and William leaned his head against his comfortably. 

"Ethan's book," he said. Xander ignored the flicker of doubt and worry that was inspired from the words, and he looked down at the yellowed pages. The print was simple, slightly spidery and blotchy and very, very small, like in a Bible. One the left page was a translations page, with one column consisting of English words like war' and sickness' and wealth' and hate', and the other column displaying symbols next to the English translation. 

"What are these?" he asked, reluctant to touch the book in case he jerked away from it again.

"Oh, dark versions of the runes," William said, switching to lecture mode. "Evil sorcerers use them frequently for curses, but most, like the ones with asterisks next to them, are used for fortune readings of the darker kind. Mostly their used for simple but evil charms, like a practitioner of the dark arts may carve the symbol for death' in a black candle, light it, chant a few things, burn a picture of someone over it then hide it in that person's room. If this warlock or witch is skilled, that person could die in a matter of days. If they're not particularly skilled, then someone related to that person would die in the space of thirteen days. Interesting, isn't it?"

"More like mucho creepy on the evil spectrum," Xander said, wrinkling his nose.

"I take it your find it disturbing?" William asked dryly, rolling his head lazily to the side and giving Xander an arch look. 

"Only in the here's Johnny' kind of sense, although maybe a little bit more subtler." William chuckled, closing his eyes and ducking his head. Xander smirked a bit, and lifted William's head up with two fingers, before pressing his lips against William's, the sensation warm and familiar and, as they opened their mouths to each other, moist. And delicious. He heard a thunk as William tossed the heavy book onto the glass and metal coffee table, a few empty cans of Coke skittering away and landing on the carpet. Xander curled his arm around William's neck, the one that had been lying out on the back of the sofa, his other hand entangled in William's hair. He arched his back against William's hand when he felt it slip up his back, under his T-shirt, raking his fingernails down Xander's spine. 

Suddenly, the contact was gone as William quickly scrambled to the other side of the sofa, grabbing his book off the coffee table. "Heard Faith coming," he said in explanation, a blush settling on his face like a permanent feature, just as Faith strode in, bag over her shoulder. 

"Okay, I'm off, you boys don't do anything I wouldn't do, which isn't a hell of a lot." She strode over and gave William a one armed hug from behind, which he returned awkwardly, and she flicked a hand up in a brief wave for Xander. "Later, fellow Scoobies." She turned and started out.

"What's the rush?" asked William over his shoulder. 

"The only bus for the next two hours is gonna leave in, like, five minutes a block away from here, and I'd rather run to catch it than walk home," she explained. "See you on Monday." With that, she was gone. William shook his head, putting the book back on the coffee table. 

"She's quick to escape, not that I'm complaining," he said conversationally, crossing his legs Indian style. "When are you leaving?"

"I'm not due back anytime soon," Xander said, distracted with the sight of William with a just-kissed look about him. 

"Well, my parents should be home in about two hours," William said, leaning back onto the arm of the couch. Xander grinned. Two hours. Cool. He got to hands and knees and fancied that he noticed William's medium blue eyes go a bit darker as Xander crawled over. There wasn't much of a pause between then and Xander kissing him for the second time that morning. He felt William's hands on his shoulder, gripping onto Xander's T-shirt as Xander placed his elbows on the arm of the couch beside William's head for balance. Wanting to continue what was left the other night, Xander balanced awkwardly on his knees in front of the cross legged in front of him, grabbed a fistful of William's T-shirt at the front and slid an arm around William's waist. With that, Xander fell backwards, dragging William along, placing both of his legs between the Brit's as they quickly scrambled to become uncrossed. William blushed even deeper when they ended up with Xander lying down and he straddling his hips. 

Uncertain now, Xander sat up, propping him up. "This isn't too girly, right? I don't want you, y'know, feeling less manly or anything." William mutely shook his head, before kissing Xander as hard as possible. Xander let out a muffled cry of surprise, before he tilted his head to deepen the kiss, moaning as William's hand became entangled in his hair. Xander lay back down and William went with him, not breaking the kiss. As William adjusted himself to the new position, Xander felt his own arousal grow, figuratively and literally, wrapping his arms around William's slimmer waist. 

With that, Xander tilted his body so that his back was pressed up against the back of the sofa, and William went onto his side as well, breaking off the kiss. Careful, so that they didn't fall and crash into the coffee table (no matter how funny that may be), Xander rolled on top of William, shifting them so that they didn't have to worry about gravity dragging them down to the depth of the floor. William smirked, despite the blushing that had settled down to start up a new kind of eternal skin colour, lifting his knees, which Xander's legs were settled between. 

Xander kissed him again, with all the intent of someone not wanting the kiss to stop, feeling William wrap his arms around Xander's neck. Xander ran under William's shirt, across the Brit's abdomen, loving the warmth and feel of William's scrawny frame beneath his broader one. Too bad breathing was a factor. Xander broke away, both boys panting slightly. "We need to stop, or we'll both have to have c-cold showers, erm, f-for a month," William stammered, looking way too cute with his hair mussed and glasses askew, trying to say a sentence that implied and mentioned both of their arousal. 

Xander grinned, kissing him briefly. "And what'll happen if we, say, don't stop?"

"Um..." William sounded distracted, probably because of the way Xander was kissing his neck. "W-we'll have to-to have cold showers f-for every day of this m-month, as mentioned. And perhaps be sent to hell, depending on your god," he added sarcastically.

"I meant before that, nimrod," Xander insulted lightly, earning a small whap on the back of his head anyway. "Nowish, kinda. Like, if we don't stop, what'll we be doing in the next ten minutes?" he went back to kissing William's neck, tongue flicking out now and then.

"W-well, what would you, erm, like to do?" 

"What do you want me to do?" Man, when did he get this suave?

"Nothing I'm not uncomfortable with." Damn, William was good at this game. Ah well. Time for here's Johnny' kind of subtle.

"What about this?" Xander kept kissing his neck, just to hide the pulsing red blush on his face, as he pushed his hand onto William's thigh – under the Brit's track suit pants and boxers. Imagining what Xander would like done to him, he started massaging it, hand inching towards the centre of William's arousal. 

"Oh...ah...oh..." Was all William said.

"I think he'd like to buy a vowel, ladies and gents," Xander joked, lifting his head to kiss William softly, removing his hand before it could get any closer. "Tell you what," he said after the kiss, "how about we stop now, settle for cold showers for a month straight and not get sent to hell, depending on our god?"

"Sounds good to me," William said weakly, as Xander climbed off of him. "But, wait, Xander..." Xander stopped from where he was standing, about to walk away and get dressed into actual clothes, not just his sleep wear. "Next time, we don't have to stop. Okay, maybe not next time, after that, perhaps, or more so in the future, but..."

"Yeah," Xander said, comprehending. "Whenever we're both..."

"Ready," finished William. They shared a companionable smile, before Xander walked off to get dressed.

---

Xander grinned dopily as he rode down the streets of Sunnydale, his sleep over bag hanging precariously off of his shoulder and resting on the rack behind him on his bike. His lips still burned in a good way from the goodbye kiss William had given him, just outside of his house, in full view of anyone who might've walked passed, though no one did, but that wasn't the point. Humming the _Lion King_ themes under his breath, Xander turned a sharp corner, almost running over a couple off teenagers walking down. After a few more minutes, he was home, and his dopey in-love feeling ebbed away as he rested his bike against the side of the house, hearing familiar yells. 

Sighing, Xander grabbed his bag and opened the door that was unlocked, the volume of his parents' fighting heightening as he did so. "The story of my life," he muttered as he shut it behind him. But no, that wasn't true. William was another chapter, and that didn't consist of yelling, of drunken threats or of insults and lies. Even the vampire hunting section was a lot more fin than this. Xander walked down the hall, kicked open his door, threw his stuff inside before trudging to the kitchen. 

He poured himself a glass of water, leaning against the bench as he sipped at it, staring at the door that led into the living room, where his parents were yelling at each other. His mother's shrieks were nothing compared to his father's roars. Xander sighed again, downing the water before starting out towards his room, where he could play music loudly and surf the net, just as the door banged open, his mother, Jessica, stomping in, looking more furious than scared, as Tony followed in, his face red, sweating profusely from being so inebriated. 

"Don't walk away from me, you little ungrateful cunt!" Tony yelled, and Xander winced at his least favourite word, one he had learned at age seven and had sworn never to use. He still hadn't, though, when his father was drunk enough and angry enough, the word and other ones like it spouted out like water from a tap. 

"Ungrateful for what, Tony?" yelled Jessica, turning her back on Xander to face Tony. "For slaving away? For watching you get shitfaced in front of the TV? You asshole, you have no idea the hell I go through for you!" The yelling was worse, somehow. Both adults were roaring drunk, and louder and meaner, now. 

Xander started backing towards the exit, wringing his hands so that they didn't tremble so badly. "You need me, you bitch, and if I didn't have a son who needed to be taken care of, or a household that needs cleans, or maybe a good fuck once and a while, I'd leave, right now!"

"God, I hate you," whispered Jessica, but Tony was too plastered to hear it. Xander did. Trying not to cry from sheer despair, he ran out of the kitchen, out of the house, grabbed his bike and was pedalling furiously down the streets in a matter of seconds, letting the tears flow but refusing to actually cry. In record time, he was back at William's house again, only now, in the driveway, was a beautiful silver car, some sort of pretty European style. This indicated that his parents were home. Xander wondered if they ever fought like his own parents did. 

Hesitant now, Xander rode down the path up to the door, set his bike against the wall and rang the bell. As soon as he did, he suddenly realised himself, and wiped away his tears, just as it opened. William looked at him curiously, dressed in grey jeans and a white T-shirt, letting him in. "Xander, what are you – no, I mean, what's wrong?" he asked as Xander walked in, unable to stop trembling.

"I just need some where to hang for a while, if that's okay," Xander said uncertainly.

"That's fine, Xander, what happened?" asked William, reaching over to touch Xander's cheek, when someone entered the entrance hall, causing the boy to jerk it back. "Oh, um." Xander looked over, and blinked. It was obviously that he was looking at William's mother – the same eyes, the same mouth, though she was a little bit fleshier, not so chiselled. And she was scary in the way that primary teachers are scary. She wore a dress suit, that would be sensible if it wasn't a violent blue, to the skirt wasn't so short, revealing very well sculptured legs, shown off with strappy, yellow high heeled shoes. Her hair was wavy, like William's, and dyed a brilliant red. The woman seemed to be entirely made up of primary colours, and she smiled wildly, looking cheerful, despite the black circles around her eyes, a universal indicator of a hangover. 

"Hello," she said, "William, who's your friend?" Her accent was exactly William's. She walked over, her heels clopping on the tiles like a horse's hoofs, holding out her hand for Xander to shake. He glanced at her long nails, painted blue like her suit. 

"Mum, Xander, Xander, Anne Wyther, my mother," William said shortly, looking anywhere but at them, as if he were embarrassed by his mother's clothes and appearance. 

Unsure, as if approaching a rattlesnake, Xander took her hand and shook it firmly. "Hi, Mrs. Wyther," he said meekly.

"Ha!" she said, waving her other hand. "Call me Annie, I do hate formalities, there are none in this house. Are you a school friend? Ah you part of the Will/Tara/Charles/Faith quartet I get bombarding this house so often? Is it now a Will/Tara/Charles/Faith/Xander quintet? Is your full name Alexander? Where were you before Sunnydale?"

Annie reminded Xander of a very colourful, very friendly, very enthusiastic machine gun. 

"Um, yes, yes, yes, yes, L.A," he answered, striving to answer them all and succeeding. 

"Oh, lovely, I do like Los Angeles, so many shoes," she said, letting go of his hand. Xander glanced over at William, who had a lord-smite-me-with-lightning-bolts-NOW expression. "I got this one pair that were about four inches high and completely glass. Damn things so expensive, so impractical, but I just had to buy them. I've sold a couple of dresses at the same store, in fact. Yes, L.A, very nice place indeed. I got a few things sent over from there when we were living in England, some three-quarter length trousers, very popular in the summer, went great with the glass shoes, very retro-Cinderella. Dear me, that collection was utterly fabulous, no idea why it didn't become popular."

"Mother?" interrupted William, sounding desperate. 

"Hm?" She turned her attention to her son, saw his expression and burst into a fit of giggles. "Oh, silly me, babbling on, you're probably bored silly. Now, I'm sure you boys would like to do whatever it is teenagers do these days without the likes of any adult interrupting, so I'll just go and change my underwear, the party last night was slightly wild. Bye!" With that, she flounced off.

A silence filled the room, and William had an eternally humiliated expression on his face. Xander broke into a grin. "You're mom is so cool!" he exclaimed, earning a death glare from his boyfriend. Xander's laughter echoed in the large room. 

---

Xander felt the bed tilt as William sat down beside him, a warm hand massaging the nape of his neck softly. He looked up from where he was staring at the carpet, staring at William who tilted his head, confused. "Tell me what happened," the Brit requested. Xander looked away, glancing around the interior of William's bedroom, where they both sat on the edge of his eternally unmade bed. The computer on the desk across from him was on and displaying the Hotmail main web page, a half finished cup of tea still lightly steaming next to the mouse pad. Xander sighed, turning back to William, shrugging.

"Parent stuff," he said vaguely. "They were arguing, figured I should get out of the line of fire for a while." William nodded slowly, obviously unsure of what to say to that. "They were kinda drunk, and I didn't wanna get in the middle of it." Xander saw the flash of undisguised sympathy in William's eyes, and he sighed, leant over for a soft, lingering kiss, then added: "Don't pity me."

"What? No, I don't- I didn't-"

"You do so," Xander interjected, with a quirk of a smile. "Everyone nice enough does if they find out. Just don't, it's not really what I need right now."

"What do you need, then?"

"Just somewhere to crash for the day, ooh, and then we can go vamp hunting later on, nothing like a spot of violence to rid you of angst!" He gave the kind of grin that a man on a coffee ad might, earning a short, unsure laugh from William. "Or we could go to the Bronze and get plastered on caffeine."

William winced, looking regretful. He drew his hand away. "Mum doesn't like me going to the Bronze on Sunday nights, just before the start of the school week, sorry," he said. Xander shrugged. "Hungry?" 

"After the loaded plate breakfast we had today, washed down by a very big cup of hot chocolate?" Xander asked sceptically, then grinned. "Starving."

---

"You look so drab, like a rainy day in London," Annie was saying as her son pawed through the pantry in search for something unhealthy. "All greys, and blacks if you think I don't notice." William turned to give her a look before resuming his task. "Honestly, one of these days I'm going to burn every single item of clothing you own that's colourless."

"Or you could do something more useful, like shop for a bag of Oreos, or a bag of crisps," William argued, "Lord, we have absolutely nothing in here."

Xander, who was sitting at the breakfast bar where he had been given pancakes only a few hours ago, was trying not to laugh, and wasn't making a very good job of it. Annie glanced at him with a pretty smile and a wink, indicating she was planning to annoy her son as much as possible. This only sent Xander into a few hopeless, quiet chuckles. She had dressed down into jeans and a bright yellow peasant styled shirt, her fire red hair swept up in a ponytail. She lent against the bench next to the pantry, a half-finished cigarette between two fingers. 

"We have plenty, William," she argued, taking a drag out of the cigarette, "look, jam, flour, sugar, eggs-"

"If I were planning on making a strawberry danish, than yes, we're well stocked," William interrupted sarcastically. "Aha!" He pulled out a bag of chocolate chip biscuits. "Amazing what you find if you look hard enough." He opened it and offered one to Annie, who took one, before he settled down on the stool next to Xander, who happily grabbed a few. 

"Anyway, I don't see why you insist on wearing clothes that make you look like a black and white motion picture," Annie continued. "You shouldn't be afraid of colour, dear, Lord knows I'm not."

"We can see that, Mother," William said, deadpanned. "Besides, it all your fault, y'know, if you didn't make me wear all of those designs every school day, maybe I wouldn't be scared of colour. Now, I'm completely traumatised."

"I just want some of my work out in the open," she said, holding up her hands in a defensive gesture, her blue eyes wide with innocence. "Besides, I think they look very smart on you."

"I'm also a laughing stock."

"Only by unfashionable people, dear."

"Yes well-" William didn't bother finishing the sentence, as he looked over at Xander and kicked him in the shin. "Stop laughing, it isn't funny," he said with mock firmness. Xander continued to laugh happily as he got more cookies out of the bag. 

"Oh, that reminds me, I have a present for you, Will," Annie said, walking over to get more cookies as well. William eyed her warily, and when he didn't answer, she continued. "Just a coat that I had imported from New York." 

"Oh God, what colour is it?" William asked, looking fearful. 

"Black," she said, with a flicker of a smirk. William looked about ready to drop the half-eaten cookie he held in his hand. His eyebrows furrowed, and he tilted his head.

"Who are you and what have you done with my mother?" he asked.

"Well if that's your attitude, I think I'll withhold it from you for a while, until you're dying with curiosity," she said impishly. William opened his mouth to object, when Annie turned to Xander. "So, dear, what is your interest in fashion?" Xander gaped, not sure on how to answer this.

"Um, non-existent?" he answered. 

"Good, a teenage boy at your age would be considered a wanker for taking interest in fashion at this day and age," Annie said, and Xander grinned. He really liked her. 

---

_Xander watched as Angelus walked into the woods, retreating from the Scoobies. "Hey, we should go after him," Xander said, looking around the group. William handed him something – Angelus's ring. Where did everyone else go? They leaned in for a brief but smouldering kiss, and William wrapped Xander's hand around the silver ring. _

_"Go after him yourself," the Brit advised, stepping back. Before Xander knew what he what he was doing, he was running through the forest after Angelus, heart pumping so hard that it took up the sounds of his feet stomping through the greenery and foliage. Thin branches whipped out, hitting him in the face no matter how hard he tried to protect himself from it. _

_"Don't walk away from me, you little ungrateful cunt!"_

_His father's voice rang in his ears – it only made him run faster. "Don't pity me," he whispered._

_"Welcome to the Hellmouth, I'm sure you'll make loads of friends!" Faith's sarcastically cheerful words echoed through the trees, and suddenly, Xander wasn't sure if he was running in the right direction anymore._

_"Ungrateful for what, Tony? For slaving away? For watching you get shitfaced in front of the TV? You asshole, you have no idea the hell I go through for you!" His mother's shrieks came from the right, so Xander veered left, bounding over a fallen log, the forest even darker than before._

_"Isn't kissing more common to boys and girls rather than boys and boys?" Yeah, that's it, run, to William. Xander's shoulder brushed against a tree's trunk, and he almost fell, but he kept running, unsure of where we was running to. Or from._

_"What's the matter? Miss me?" Buffy's impish remark filled his senses, and Xander closed his eyes for a second. All noises were gone, except for his heartbeats, and all he saw was black, and her, standing there, smirking, dressed all in black. Buffy through back her head, laughed, before turning a yellow eyed glare to him, mouth wide and fangs glistening. Then, Xander opened his eyes, and he tripped over an unearthed root of a tree, and fell._

_Suddenly, fluorescent lights and sun through a window replaced the dark of the night. His mother and father stood, glaring at each other, Tony red faced and sweating, eyes bulging furiously as he shouted at his wife. "You need me, you bitch, and if I didn't have a son who needed to be taken care of, or a household that needs cleans, or maybe a good fuck once and a while, I'd leave, right now!"_

_"God, I hate you."_

_Xander turned away at his mother's words, walking towards the door, passing between them. He yanked it open, and looked out into the dark woods. Xander was about to turn back into the house when he heard the shatter of glass, another drunken yell of frustration from his father, the sobbing that had started from his mother. Gritting his teeth, Xander ran blindly into the night time forest, holding up his hands to stop the branches from whipping his face. _

_"That's what you were implying, wasn't it? That my best friend was killed and drained by some blood-sucking fictional character?" _

_His own words repeated back to him._

_"Not a fictional character, boy." Xander stopped and turned to see Angelus there, leaning against a tree, smirking. "I'm as real as the bruises your mom gets every week or so. As real as Buffy Anne Summers' tombstone. As real as the blood you'll be spilling." _

_"What blood?" he asked numbly._

_"That's up to you," Angelus answered cryptically. Xander glared, before rushing passed him, wanting to get back home...well, maybe somewhere else, but he wanted out of the forest. _

_Suddenly, he stumbled out of the thick of the woods and into a clearing. Vampires, at least thirty of them, standing around in a circle, game faces on, all ignoring Xander like he was invisible. Angelus stood in the middle, flanked by Buffy and two other male vampires Xander didn't recognise – one blonde, one dark haired. Looking around widely at the huge amount of vampires, Xander quickly slid back into the shadows, gripping onto a branch. He gasped and pulled away, as the rough wood had cut a shallow slice into his hand, and fresh blood trickled down his arm. Gulping, he turned his eyes back to the scene, taking in more detail._

_They all wore black – oh, the originality. Buffy was clothed in a very gothic dress of silk and lace, with a sash made of the same material resting on her head like a veil. She looked deadly and beautiful – a look Xander would never have pinned for his oldest of friends. He remembered the days when she'd come to school with her hair in cheerful French braids and wearing pink and blue. Broadly grinning, voice always laughing, arms widespread and asking for a hug..._

_"Tell me," Angelus was saying to the vampires, snapping Xander out of his own memories, "what do we want? To end the world, and all of existence, and ourselves with it?" There was a murmur, though Xander wasn't sure of what the vampires were in favour of. He watched as Buffy's flickered over towards Angelus, a devilish smirk on her lips. "No, of course not," the dark vampire snapped, drawing a deep silence from the vampires around him who gazed at him respectfully, yellow eyes glowing in the darkness. "We want progress, as well as keeping the old ways of vampires." There was a collective nod, also from the two vampires flanking him. Xander set his eyes on the blonde of the two and he stared back, blue-green eyes locked with his. Suddenly, William's voice whispered through the trees._

_"The sun, it shines down towards him, Like Heaven's opening, like a yellow grin. Tall, sandy hair, green eyes, sea-deep dye, Voice to die for, to fall asleep by. Love cannot be contained in a mere wink, But it's this that he conveys, missed in a blink." That poem...no, William couldn't have been talking about a vampire, of all boys... And besides, it clearly states that the sun shone down on William's past crush, and that couldn't happen to a vampire without it getting all dusty, right?_

_Trying to block out these worrisome thoughts, Xander turned his focus back to Angelus. "Maybe it's just me, but I don't want to listen to some wrinkled bastard who rules from the depths of the sewers, now do I?" Angelus asked rhetorically, earning some nervous laughter. "No. But we'll take a leap forward for vampiric kind. We'll just do it a lot more efficiently than he ever could." More nervous laughter. "So, here's what I want you to do for me," Angelus said, more business like. "Bring me the Slayer. I've sized her up; I know her better now. She has one weakness that I can tell – her friends. Remember this. Now go." _

_At once, the vampires started to depart. The two that flanked him glanced at each other, back at Angelus, before turning to leave as well, disappearing into the shadows. Xander bit his bottom lip and glared as the blonde one glanced back, eyes locking with Xander's for one more fleeting moment before he disappeared into darkness. _

_Rolling his eyes, Xander focused back onto the vampiric duo in the middle of the clearing. Buffy smiled enticingly and walked towards Angelus, hips swaying, green eyes sparkling. "I have no idea about any of this mystic stuff, but it sounds pretty cool. Think it'll work?" she asked, playfully running a finger down his jaw._

_Suddenly, he grabbed it in a bone-crushing grip, the young girl wincing visibly. "It'll work," Angelus said firmly, before devouring her mouth in a ferocious and seemingly painful kiss. Gritting his teeth, the cut on his palm throbbing, Xander closed his eyes, willing himself to wakefulness. Opening his eyes again, the gloom of the woods became a grey, grey and black blur._

It wasn't a sudden awakening. Xander just opened his eyes to find himself staring at the ceiling, legs tangled in his sheets and his T-shirt damp from sweat. Shuddering, his mind slowly woke up, striving to part his dream from reality, trying to remember that lying in bed wasn't part of that chase through the woods. Closing his eyes again, he rolled to his side, trying to will the images away. They'd been so vivid – William's words of poetry still seemed to ring in his ears, and while the sound of his boyfriend's voice was somewhat comforting, it was also eerie. 

The cold of the woods still left a chill in Xander's spine, the scent of the dirt still lingering, the throb in his hand from the cut still throbbing away like hell... "Wait," he whispered. Shaking, Xander sat up and switched on his bedside lamp to inspect his hand. A deep red line ran down his palm, and though it had stopped bleeding, it still ached.

"The hell...?" He ran a finger down the cut, heart thudding heavily, and Xander glanced around warily, as if someone was going to walk in at any moment and complain about the racket his heartbeats were making. Unsure if this occurrence was news worthy to the point of ringing up at that moment or not, Xander slid back down under his sheets after turning off the light. Balling his hand into a fist, as if to dull the pain of the cut, he closed his eyes, remembering the image of Buffy and Angelus standing there, in his dream, locked together in a brutal kiss. This memory sparked an anger inside of Xander that he had felt only once or twice before in his life – a hatred so intense that he doubted he'd getting any sleep that night.

Then, there was the blonde vampire William had written about. Yeah, what's up with that?' Xander thought to himself, scary and disturbing images vanishing with the thought of the rather good looking sandy-haired vampire that had apparently captured William's heart and some stage or another. A flicker of something else flared up amongst the hatred for Angelus and the demon Buffy had become...was it jealousy? Ludicrous, but possible, it seemed. The cut on Xander's hand and the too vivid dream was momentarily forgotten as he drifted off into a restless sleep with one thought imprinted in his mind: 

Would he write a poem for me?' 

~~~

Hey, I hope that was satisfying for you lot. Hopefully chapter eight won't take me as long (though I'm going away for ten days, so don't except anything until after then). Yes, we will find out who this mysterious blonde vampire is, just not yet. I love cliff hangers (except when reading them) so shoot me. Anyway, I apologise so much for taking so long to get this one done, and thanks for your patience.


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